Island Vacation
by Sand-Siblings
Summary: Naruto and his friends all get invitations to a party at the Hyuga's. But what happens when Gaara wins a cruise vacation and takes everyone with him? Things take a turn for the worst when they get stranded. Full sum inside. NejiTen, ShikaTem, HinaXKiba
1. The Invitation

**Summary:** Naruto and his friends all get invitations to a party at the Hyuga's. But what happens when Gaara wins a cruise vacation and takes everyone with him? Things take a turn for the worst when they get stranded. Kerplunk? The Akatsuki? Includes lots of music, too. Pairings: ShikaXTema, NaruXHina, HinaXKiba, NejiXTen, SasukeXSakura (mostly one-sided).

**Chapter 1: The Invitation**

Konoha was safe. The Chunin exams came to a halt a while back, Gaara and his siblings had returned to their own village, Tsunade was currently the Fifth Hokage, and all seemed well. The only thing that seemed to pass the time was doing missions for the Hokage; which many promising young shinobi seemed to be quite interested in. Nothing big had arisen in quite some time, and everyone liked it that way; a simple life where they had time for the little things. Well, not entirely. Lately, there had been many new missions and most shinobi had barely any time of their own. But that was all beginning to subside, missions were easily completed and most ninja were thinking of taking a vacation. One problem, where do you go? There aren't many places that are interesting around; no opportunities were presenting themselves. That is, until one simple, regular day in Konoha.

Overcast skies made Konoha seem like it was a lot darker than usual, it had not rained in quite a while so it was about time clouds came their way. The air smelt of precipitation, it was cool but not cold; breaths were visible during such times. Deep grey storm clouds hung low over Konoha; some of which seemed to have a slight blue-purple hue to them.

In a small building lay a boy with a silly nightcap sprawled across his bed, snoring like a hog. He grumbled something as he rolled lazily onto his right side. His sleep was peaceful, a smile hung on his face as he dreamed. But, like every morning something always had to disturb him. He shot his eyes open as his ears rang with pain.

"Uhh…" He grunted, looking at the time; 11:00. He flung his hand drowsily onto the 'snooze' button to cease the booming noise.

There was a small tingle around the edge of his jaw, forcing it open he yawned rather loudly. Sitting up, he stretched his back; hearing a small cracking sound as he did. He crawled over to the window beside the bed.

"GOOD MORNING, KONOHA!" He yelled grinning with his eyes clamped shut. He ducked his head back in, humming.

"Mommy, that ugly boy yelled at me!" A young girl cried.

"Hey now, that's not very nice to say; that ugly boy yelled at me too." Her mother said as they walked quickly away from the residence.

Inside, the boy leapt from his bed grinning; obviously not hearing what the girl or her mother said. He made sure that the alarm was off, smiling like a fool. He walked backwards, sliding his feet on the floor and moving his shoulders in a circular pattern as he did. Some may call it dancing, some may call it torture.

"Tch!" he grunted, flinging his nightcap off of his head, throwing it onto the bed and revealing blonde spiky hair. He began snapping to some unheard rhythm. "She was more like a beauty queen, from a movie scene, I said don't mind but what do you mean I am the one?" He sang with his voice as high pitched as it would go, as he strode over to his closet, "Who will dance on the floor in the round. She said I am the one who will dance on the floor in the round." He continued as he snatched a set of clothes from his closet.

"She told me her name was Billy Jean, as she caused a scene." He slammed the closet door shut with his hip, "Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one. Who will dance on the floor in the round?" He bounded into the air, skidding to a stop in front of his mirror.

He continued singing into his hairbrush as he slipped off his pajamas and got dressed in his everyday clothes. He grinned and winked at himself. He stepped to an imaginary beat as he entered his kitchen to make some cereal. He grabbed a spoon, some cereal, a glass, a bowl, and some milk and plopped them on the table. He spun the bowl around with his thumb and index finger as he was pouring the milk into it. He poured some into the glass, raising it up higher as he did, then he closed the milk up and placed it on his right. He picked up the spoon and flipped it in the air; almost dropping it.

"Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who claims that I am the one, but the kid is not my son. She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son!" He sang as loud as he could, with his voice as high as it would go. He took a scoop of cereal and plopped it into his mouth. He looked down at the spoon, hoping to see his reflection.

But instead, he saw the face of someone very annoyed over his shoulder in the reflection.

"Sas..!" He began to choke with surprise. He hit himself in the chest with a clenched fist to try and stop the choking. The boy standing behind him kept a very uncaring expression. Finally, he was able to stop himself from dying. He spun around in his chair and glared at the boy behind him. "How long have you been here, Sasuke?" He asked weakly.

"Long enough." Sasuke replied smirking. He was leaning against a wall near the front door with his arms crossed. "Sakura and I have been waiting for you, Naruto."

"Yeah, Yeah, keep your pants on I'll be there." Naruto waved, turning his head away from Sasuke to continue eating breakfast.

"I'm not waiting here for you; we'll meet at the training grounds in half an hour." Sasuke said as the left Naruto's house.

When Naruto finally finished his breakfast and was feeling exhilarated, he knew it must be time. Time to check the mail. Normally, people don't make such big deals about mail but Naruto was different. He loved reading what people have to say to him; even if their asking money or they'll repossess his house.

"What do I have in the mail today?!" Naruto cheered as he opened his door and went to his small mailbox.

He opened it and found four envelopes. He grinned and reached in, taking them out and staring at them with joy. "Oh boy!" He said, excited. He went back inside and sat at his table. "Let's see, Bill, Bill, Junk, Huh? What is this?" Naruto asked himself as he looked at the last envelope. It was lightly tinted grey, sort of a slate colour. On the front it said 'Hyuga Party'. "An invitation to a Hyuga party!?" Naruto squealed with joy.

Hyuga parties: the best parties in all of Konoha. They were very rare occurrences, but going to one is like a miracle. Only a few close friends of a Hyuga may be invited to a Hyuga Party, but they were guaranteed to have the time of their lives.

"I can't believe this!" He screamed jumping up and down. He opened it and read further.

'_Uzumaki Naruto, _

_You have been invited to attend Hyuga Hinata's Party. This party is for no apparent reason and formal-wear will not be required; this is a casual party. The party will commence at 8:00pm on Saturday. You should receive this on said day. Behave yourself, please._

_-Hyuga Hinata'_

"Saturday, that's tomorrow!" Naruto double checked the calendar stuck on his fridge. "I mean today!" Naruto exclaimed with excitement causing his voice to shake. "This is awesome! I got to tell Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, racing out of his house as fast as he could in the direction of the training ground.

"Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto yelled waving both arms in the air as he ran towards them. It was still dark out because of the storm clouds and rain fell fiercely upon them.

"This is terrible! We can't train in this weather!" Sakura pouted, not hearing Naruto through the loud sounds of rain splashing onto the ground.

"Sakura, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled again, yet still to no avail.

"Hush." Sasuke replied to Sakura, his annoyance clearly not being hidden.

"Sasuke! Saku-" Naruto was cut off by a sharp burning pain in his back as a bolt of lightning struck him. He flew forward and smashed into the dirt with his face. He rolled towards Sasuke and Sakura, smoking a deep grey colour. He hit Sakura in the leg lightly as he stopped rolling.

"That was close, it could have hit someone." Sakura said, worried. "Ew, Naruto's touching me." Sakura said moving her leg away from him.

"Loser." Sasuke said glaring down at Naruto's twitching form.

"I… I got… An invitation… To… To a Hyu-Hyuga Party..." Naruto stuttered out, holding the invitation at Sasuke.

"So did we." Sasuke said emotionlessly.

"...No…NOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Naruto suddenly finding the strength to throw his arms into the air and shake his fists at the sky. "DAMN YOU GOD! WHY?"

"I wouldn't curse God if I were-" Sasuke was interrupted by another sudden lightning bolt hitting something, or someone right in front of them.  
It hit Naruto, the exact same place the first one did. Naruto's face hit the ground harder than the first time, possibly chipping a tooth. His back was smoking again.

"I tried to warn you, loser." Sasuke said frowning.

"You're so cool Sasuke!" squealed Sakura grabbing his arm and rubbing her face on his shoulder.

"Ew! Get this, this, THNG off of me!" exclaimed Sasuke shaking off the annoying girl.

"Ouch, that hurt Sasuke-kun. But don't worry, I still LOVE YOU!" she shouted grabbing tighter.

"Damn…" mumbled Sasuke, not the slightest bit amused.

Naruto sprang up from the ground; his back was not smoking anymore, for the rain had cooled it down. "Let's go get some ramen!"

"How did you…find the strength to do that?" asked Sasuke, trying to hide his amazement.

"I used some from that fox inside me!" said Naruto happily. "Now, I'm going to go get some ramen, are you two coming?"

"Well, it's not like we could really train in this weather…" said Sasuke. "Although, it's unlike God to allow me to get struck by lightning. Right, God?" Sasuke looked to the sky and smiled. The clouds parted in a single part of the sky, allowing a beam of light to land directly on Sasuke's face.

"What? How is this?" exclaimed Naruto gesturing to Sasuke, looking at no one in particular.

"Oh, right. Me and God are like this." Sasuke said crossing his fingers together.

Naruto put his face in front of Sasuke's, which made the clouds gap immediately close.

"My Sasuke's a saint!" said Sakura smiling at an unhappy Sasuke.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going with Naruto to get some ramen."

"Well if you're going, so am I!" Sakura giggled excited to spend any time with Sasuke, even if Naruto was there to.

"Alrighty, then let's go!" Shouted Naruto, pointing in the direction of the ramen place to add some drama.

Sasuke and Sakura just looked at him, not amused.

"Loser…" mumbled Sasuke.

Somewhere across Konoha, in a small building there sat three friends on pillows. One was resting his head on a pillow and had his eyes closed, the second guy was crushing a pillow with his immense weight, and a girl laid stomach-down on two pillows.

"Shikamaru!" The girl with bright blonde hair and a purple ensemble yelled, excited for some reason.

"Uh… What is it you want, Ino?" Shikamaru replied lazily, not even raising his head off of his pillow.

"Did you hear? Hinata Hyuga is having a party!" Ino squealed.

"Does this concern me?" Shikamaru replied, bored.

"Yeah it does! That is, if you even got invited…" Ino mocked, resting her head on both of her arms, which were crossed on the floor.

"Of course I got invited." Shikamaru replied without enthusiasm.

"Are you going to go?" Ino asked, she didn't seem to care, but conversation is better than silence to her. But, with Chouji on their team, even in the deepest silence you could hear him munching on snacks.

"I don't know… It could be troublesome." He said shrugging and frowning.

"Why isn't anyone talking to me?" Chouji asked; his mouth full of chips. Sometimes his mouth is so full no one can understand what he is saying, but somehow his team always knows.

"Because you're stuffing your face with chips and it's unpleasant to talk to you." Ino said, irritation coating her words.

"Fine." Chouji said angrily.

"Well, I'm going to go. I really don't care if you're going." Ino said smugly, looking at her nails.

"Kay…" said Shikamaru. He just wanted to go to sleep; he liked this weather because it meant he didn't have to train. He smiled.

It was quiet, except for the sounds of food crunching and bags of snacks rustling. Shikamaru's house was usually this quiet, unless his father was home; and that's not as often as some would think. Ino drummed her fingers on the wooden floor, bored out of her mind. She sighed loudly, hoping to get the boys attention. Neither of them even looked in her direction.

"So… What do you guys want to do?" She asked, raising her head to look at them.

"Mm." They both shrugged, still not looking at her.

"You guys are so boring; I bet I'd have a better time with Billboard Brow…" Ino complained. Usually, she called Sakura by her first name unless it was said in the presence of her, but she was pretty upset. She only used the nickname 'Billboard Brow' when it would make an effect on someone, but that was not happening here.

"Can we at least listen to the radio or something?" Ino asked drowsily.

"Sure, I guess." Shikamaru said, not really caring.

Ino waited, and waited, but Shikamaru didn't even make a move to turn it on.

"Shikamaru, can you turn it on?" She asked; knowing the radio was far closer to him than it was to her.

"Hmm…" He raised his head and opened his eyes, looking over to the radio. It wasn't more than 3 or 4 feet away, "But it's far," He whined tiredly, "It's all the way over there." His eyebrows h low; making him look very lazy.

"You have GOT to be kidding me." Ino snorted.

She pushed herself up with her elbows and slowly walked over to the radio and flicked it on. Instantly, she recognized the song; coincidentally it had just begun a few seconds before she turned the radio on. She started to sing with it.

"She's into superstitions black cats and voodoo dolls. I feel a premonition that girl's gonna make me fall. She's into new sensations new kicks in the candle light. She's got a new addiction for every day and night!" She sang.

"Oh dear lord." Shikamaru rolled over and covered his ears with the pillow. Ino truly was a terrible singer. She was so bad, Shikamaru started to see things. "Uh… I'm hallucinating again, cut it out…" Shikamaru said closing his eyes.

"No way! Upside, inside out she's living la vida loca, she'll push and pull you down, living la vida loca. Her lips are devil red and her skin's the color mocha, she will wear you out living la vida loca, Come On!" She sang louder.

But eventually, the song did come to an end. Both Chouji and Shikamaru sighed in relief and their minds cleared up again. But curse their luck, another song that Ino knew lyrics to came on directly afterwards.

"Know that I can't get over you, cause everything I see is you, and I don't want no substitute, baby, I swear it's Déjà Vu!" She sang as loud as she could.

"Oh my god…" Shikamaru threw a kunai at the radio, blowing it up instantly.

"SHIKAMARU! I love that song!" Ino whined, stomping her foot.

"Whatever." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Fine, now what are we going to do?" Ino asked angrily.

"Uh… How about we play a card game." Chouji suggested.

"Well, that sounds good I guess." Ino agreed. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I got Uno." Shikamaru said gesturing to a small cupboard beneath a desk.

"That'll do." Ino said walking over to the cupboard and opening it. There was a game of Uno just resting there, she picked it up and blew off some dust that covered the top of the box. She strode over to her friends and placed the box in the middle.

"You know how to play?" Chouji asked Ino.

"Sure do!" She replied smiling as she unpacked the contents.

Once they were all set up, everyone took a look at their hands. Ino was lucky, she got one of the best hands you can get, 2 'colour changers' and two red 'lose turns' included. Shikamaru had a terrible hand, all reds except one blue card. Chouji got average, nothing special cards.

"Let's get ready to rock." Ino said enthusiastically.

"Sure." Chouji said, annoyed.

"Whatever." Shikamaru didn't like this game so much.

"Chouji, you go first." Ino said to him.

"Okay." Chouji put down a card; a red two.

"My turn." Shikamaru said laying down a red six.

"Me!" Ino yelled, placing a 'lose turn'.

"I guess that's me again." Shikamaru placed a red eight down.

"Sorry, Chouji." Ino placed her second 'lose turn' card. Chouji grunted.

They all knew this would happen, Ino would get too competitive, Shikamaru would forfeit, and Chouji would get the cards all sticky and greasy. This was the way it usually was. But right now, with Ino screaming and yelling, Shikamaru really couldn't wait to get to the Hyuga party, he'd stay by himself and enjoy the company of all his friends. But right now, his main concern was staying awake until the party. It was going to be a long afternoon…

"Come on students! It's only a little rain!" a tall man in spandex yelled at three young shinobi. "Good work, Lee!" He gave Lee a thumbs-up and a wink for finishing another lap around Konoha. Running laps was especially difficult for Lee after his incident when he fought Gaara. He was left with his left arm and leg practically useless, but he still tried his hardest to train and impress his sensei.

"Thank you Gai-sensei!" Lee replied, returning the thumbs-up as he ran by, increasing his pace to impress his sensei.

"A little rain?" said a voice from another one of Gai's students. Gai turned his gaze in the direction of the voice. "Easy for you to say." He commented on the fact that his sensei was wearing a rain jacket and had a large umbrella over his head.

"Neji, it's not my fault I came prepared." Gai said, focusing his eyes into the darkness to see his student more clearly.

"That's my umbrella, uh," He grunted as he blocked an attack from his opponent, "that you're holding." Neji finished.

"So it is," Gai said looking at the handle where is said 'Hyuga' on it, "So it is."

Neji was planning on finishing his training early to help his cousin Hinata with her party, so he had to fight a bit harder. He and his partner were clashing weapons, they held a firm stance like frozen sculptures; their kunai shaking as they kept pushing against their opponent's. Neji pushed harder, his opponent grunted as he pushed her backwards gently. Neji noticed a tree directly behind her and used it to his advantage. He pushed her enough so her back was pressed hard against the bark then he broke the clash of weapons and drove his kunai into the left shoulder and right stomach areas of his opponent's clothing; not hitting any flesh. He grabbed her wrists and held them against the tree to make sure his opponent could not escape.

"Well, Tenten, it would appear that our match has reached its end." He said as he loosened his grip on her wrists.

"Heh, I guess you're right." She admitted, not struggling in his grip; for it was futile, no matter what she did. "You almost cut my bun clear off when you moved to pin my shoulder." She said smiling.

"I didn't though, right?" He asked, glancing at her hair; he had always liked it for some reason, somehow the buns intrigued him.

"Nope." She said simply

Neji released his grip on her wrists completely and moved his hands to the kunai pinning her up. He pulled them from the tree and placed them back in their proper pockets. He turned away and began to walk off, but then he remembered something. Hinata had told him to invite his team to the party as well. He sighed and turned back to Tenten.

"Tenten, Hinata told me to tell you that you are officially invited to a Hyuga party, tonight, 8:00. I have to go help her with getting ready for it." He nodded his head, she nodded back.

Just then, they heard loud footsteps coming this way. They knew who it was. Rock Lee. He came into view immediately after that and waved to his team. Gai was the only one of them to wave back, though.

"LEE!" He cried as he dropped the umbrella and waved with both hands.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee cried in return, almost tripping on his crutch as he did.

"LEE!" Gai called again, opening his arms to Lee.

"GAI-SEN-" Lee was cut off by a sharp pain in his good leg, causing him to fall face-flat on the ground. He glanced up and saw Neji glaring at him.

"LEE!" Gai called, kneeling beside Lee. "Neji, how could you hit Lee in the leg with a stone?"

"Simple, I picked up a stone, and threw it." Neji muttered, crossing his arms. Tenten giggled.

"Neji you're cruel." Gai stated.

"I know." Neji replied a little annoyed.

"I am…alright Gai-sensei!" said Lee smiling as he struggled to his feet. Lee gave Gai the thumbs up sign and smiled a tooth-shining smile.

"I knew you would be!" said Gai returning the gesture.

"Idiots!" spat Neji.

"NEJI, I heard Hyuga party was to be held, are Gai-sensei and I invited as well?" asked Lee with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Unfortunately…" Neji muttered.

"YES!" exclaimed Lee throwing his fist in the air.

"Yeah, is your uncle Iroh going to be there, Neji? That man owes me $14.99 from that poker game…" asked Gai squinting at the thought.

"Yeah, all us Hyuga's are going to be there." Neji said turning on his heal. "Just be there at 8:00 tonight." he shouted over his shoulder as he walked towards the Hyuga compound.

It was not a long walk; it only took a couple of minutes. Although today it felt extra long because of the endless freezing rain and completely black sky. The rain was soaking through Neji's clothes and his long hair was almost standing on end.

"Damn…I hope I get home soon….I'm freezing my ass off out here." Neji mumbled under his breath. Finally, he saw the large Hyuga manor in front of him. "Oh, thank God I made it here before I dropped dead."

Neji through the door open into the branch family's living room, just as a bolt of lightning blasted into the forest about a mile off. The light shadowed Neji to make it seem like he was much taller and a little like a psycho killer, his Byakugan the only thing you could see.

There was a shrill high pitch scream that came from inside the house. Neji flipped on the light to see Hinata.

"N-N-Neji?" Hinata stammered.

"Are you okay?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-Yeah… I-I'm sorry, you s-s-startled me…" She stuttered quietly.

"Are you ready for the party tonight?" Neji asked, closing the door he had just entered through.

"Almost, I-I need to put o-out a few snacks f-for the guests." Hinata replied, still startled by how afraid she had been.

"I'll do it." Neji said simply, he glanced at the clock, it was 7:00.


	2. Hyuga Party

**Chapter 2: Hyuga Party**

"Hmm…" Grunted a red haired boy. "Hyuga party…" He seemed deep in thought; he stared at the small slip of paper he had received in the mail. It was his first invitation to a party. He hoped that he could see some old faces and have a good time. The invitation seemed very nice. He was walking with his two siblings- a boy with a long black full-body suit and a girl with her hair in four separate pigtails and a large shiny fan on her back. They had been traveling for a while; finally they had reached their destination.

"I hope this is entertaining." His brother said grinning.

"I hope you don't go off flirting with every woman again." His sister commented.

"Hey!" His brother paused awkwardly, trying to think of a comeback, "Shut up!"

Both he and his sister rolled their eyes at the childish behavior of their brother. The red haired boy looked strait ahead, the gates of Konoha stood tall. He smiled. He slowly stepped into the quaint village. By now, it was 7:55. Luckily, they weren't far from the Hyuga compound. The walk would be short, but the rain had stopped and all seemed calm.

"We're all ready for the guests now." Neji stated to Hinata.

"Th-Thanks for your h-help." She stuttered quietly.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. They were standing in a small room near the entrance of the compound, guests were to enter through that door and then they would have a choice either to stay in that room or go outside where most of the entertainment was. Outside, where everything was set up, the ground was paved nicely and all trace of wetness was gone.

Neji walked over to the door and opened it. There stood two young shinobi. One had a grey hood with fur around the hands and face holes; he also had red markings on both cheeks and very small pupils. The other boy had a long blue-grey coat with a high collar that extended above his mouth, he wore sunglasses and had tall dark brown hair; he was also taller than the other boy.

"Kiba," Neji nodded towards the boy with the grey hood, "Shino," He nodded towards the boy with sunglasses, "Welcome."

"Thanks, is anyone else here?" Kiba asked.

"No, you are the first to arrive." Neji answered calmly.

Neji was slowly closing the door when suddenly he heard loud footsteps. He opened the door and looked outside. Outside, there was a tall man running towards him from across the street. Sadly, there was a young girl with an ice cream cone in her hand in his path. The man grinned the biggest, shiniest grin he could in her direction. She screamed and tried to flee but couldn't get out of the way in time. She was thrown into the street, slamming into a telephone pole and getting knocked unconscious.

"Neji!" The tall man cried; on his back was a boy Neji's age with a bowl cut waving towards him. The boy on the man's back had a broken left arm and left leg; which was why he was being carried.

"Greetings Neji, it is I, your greatest rival, Konoha's youngest handsome devil, the genius of hard work, the ninjutsu-less, genjutsu-less, master of Taijutsu, the greatest looking young boy in spandex, your favora-" The boy was cut off by Neji.

"Hello, Lee." Neji said, opening the door further for Lee to enter.

"Lee," the man said lowering the boy off of his back, "Remember to be good and that I will be just on the other side of the compound with the other adults."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried with enthusiasm.

Gai slowly walked off, in slow motion. He turned around and gave Lee a thumbs up and a grin. Lee had to bite his lip and squint his eyes to stop himself from bursting into a fit of tears. Neji rolled his eyes and let Lee walk into the room. Neji closed the door and watched the guests wander outside. Neji glanced at the clock, 8:03.

There was another knock on the door. Neji answered it immediately. There were two young boys and one girl standing at the door.

"Yeah, we're here, this party is getting started, yeah!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke and Sakura simply smacked him upside the head. "Behave yourself." Sakura commanded.

"Sakura?" Said a voice from behind Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. They all turned around simultaneously.

"Ino, nice of you to join us." Sakura greeted smugly.

"Chouji, I told you not to stop for snacks, she got here before us!" Ino cried, turning around and facing the boy standing behind her.

"Sorry, Ino…" Chouji apologized, his mouth full of food.

"Who cares if she got here before we did?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Well, I DO!" Ino yelled in Shikamaru's face, spitting a little.

Shikamaru did not look amused. His eyes were half closed in a bored way and he was frowning. He slowly raised his hand and whipped some saliva off of his cheek; without changing his expression.

"Shikamaru, is that you?" Said a voice from behind them. They all turned around, except Neji who was already facing that way.

"Temari?" Shikamaru said, remembering her from the Chunin exams.

"You remember me!" She grinned.

"GAARA!" Naruto yelled, pointing to a boy with red hair standing slightly behind Temari. Gaara's expression was neutral and unchanging.

"Is no one going to recognize me?" Said the other, slightly taller boy, waving his hand and standing on the other side of Temari.

He was wearing a large black jumpsuit with a hat that appeared to have ears on them, he also had fuchsia face make up on and a rather large wrapped-up puppet slung over his shoulder.

"Uh… You're… The other one, right?" Naruto said smiling nervously.

"Kankuro, my name is Kankuro." He replied angrily.

"Are you all just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?" Neji asked, slightly annoyed with the sudden reunion.

"Oh yeah, it's time to rock!" Naruto threw his fist into the air and leapt up as high as he could, only to me hit in the head by Neji's door frame.

Everyone passed him by as they walked inside, shaking their heads in disapproval. Naruto followed the crowd into the room and glanced around. He grinned as he saw the door open to the outside, where all the party equipment was located. He charged out, almost running Ino down in the process.

Soon after that, the final guest, Tenten, finally arrived and the party could officially begin. Everyone was standing in the backyard eating hot dogs, hamburgers, ramen, and potato chips. The radio was on, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"YEAH, IT'S TIME TO PARTY!" Screamed Naruto as he ran out from behind a small tree; having nothing on but his Konoha forehead protector and a wide smile. He charged into the open, flailing his arms around and screaming like he was on fire. "STREAK!" He screamed, running through the crowd and behind another tree.

Everyone stood silent, eyes burning with pain. That was something they all hoped they would, but never truly could, forget.

"Kiba, what does streak mean?" Hinata asked, turning to her teammate.

"Don't you know?" Kiba replied, grinning at her.

"Sorry, us Hyuga's don't get out much." She admitted, blushing.

"It means to run naked through a public place." He said, laughing, "Right, Akamaru?" Kiba said turning his head to a small white dog sitting on the ground beside him. Akamaru barked and then charged towards the end of Kiba's pants. "No Akamaru, not again!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru rand up his leg, inside his pants.

Kiba was rolling on the ground, desperately trying to get Akamaru out of his pants; to no avail. Hinata slowly backed away, this has happened many times before and she found that leaving things alone seemed to be easier.

The party ragged continued, it was already 10:00. Many guests appeared to be opening up to new things, such as Sasuke reading a porn magazine Kakashi-sensei had given him to look at if and when he got bored; Hyuga parties seemed to have strange effects on people sometimes. Even Gaara seemed to be having a good time; he was dancing to the music, and doing a very good job at it.

Naruto seemed to still be getting nowhere with Sakura, as usual, though. She was far too interested in Sasuke; even if he was reading about other women. Naruto leaned against a table, standing beside a fidgeting Hinata. By now, Naruto had gotten his clothes back on and was acting at least semi-normal.

"S-So, Naruto, h-having a good t-time?" Hinata asked, very nervous.

"I guess so, the party is great I'm just not having such a great time trying to get Sakura to like me; I don't think it's ever gonna happen…" Naruto sighed.

"Oh, w-well that's too b-bad." she replied very quietly.

"Yeah, I wish someone would like me." He said in a childish manor.

"I-I…" Hinata couldn't get enough courage to say anything on monumental value to him right now, so she made up an excuse, "I have to go, over there!" Hinata pointed to a random direction and ran there.

"Hmm… She's neat." Naruto said smiling.

Kiba was still rolling on the floor with Akamaru up his pants, and he was rolling strait for Naruto's feet. But the instant before he slammed into Naruto, a foot came crashing down on Kiba's side; stopping him mid-roll. Kiba looked up and saw Shino standing over him with his foot almost completely vertical along his back.

"Charlie, can you please help Kiba with his troubles?" Shino asked a small bug as it landed no the back of his extended index finger, "Why, thank you Charlie."

The bug, Charlie, flew off of Shino's finger and up Kiba's pants with no trouble. Kiba began to freak out.

"NOT ANOTHER ONE!" He yelled grabbing his head with his hands.

But then, all of a sudden, Charlie flew back out of Kiba's pants; exiting through the left pant leg. Akamaru ran out through his right pant leg less than 2 seconds afterwards.

"W-What happened?" Kiba asked looking up at Shino.

"Charlie is a very good negotiator." He replied as Charlie landed back on his hand.

Meanwhile…

Ino was leaning against a wall, looking at Sasuke and Sakura. For the last few hours she hadn't been feeling the same attraction to Sasuke as she used to. Her gaze drifted to Shikamaru, who was talking to Temari across the yard. She felt a wave of jealousy swim through her veins.

"What's the matter, Ino?" Chouji said, suddenly standing next to her.

"None of your goddamn business, fatty!" She yelled and stormed off.

Chouji stood staring at where she was just standing, then shrugged like it was nothing and continued to stuff his face with potato chips. He grabbed another handful, only to find he was pulling someone out of his chip bag by the back of their collar.

"You are wasting away your youth with junk food!" Lee yelled pointing to Chouji as he was raised from the chip bag.

"Wha-? How did you-?" Chouji screamed, completely and utterly confused, chip crumbs pouring out of his mouth as he spoke. He dropped Lee and turned his chip bag upside-down to see if anything else would fall out; nothing did. He stared at Lee as he stood before him, not a crumb on him. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?" Chouji yelled, running away.

"Hey, you're on cousin Neji's team, right?" A little girl said to Lee.

"Yes, have you heard of me?" He was gleaming with pride; he raised his leg onto a table in a heroic pose and jutted his chest out as he grinned to the sky.

"You could say that. I'm Hanabi. Wow, you're even weirder that Hinata said you were." she said laughing and pointing at him.

"Oh…" Lee said; his smile fading.

"You're boring; I'm going to go play with my sister." Hanabi said as she ran into the compound to get something.

Meanwhile…

Neji was standing near a small table with snacks and beverages conversing with his teammate, Tenten, when suddenly Hinata came running over, blushing. Both Neji and Tenten looked at her as she put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

"H-Hello Neji, hi Tenten." She said nervously.

"Uh, are you alright?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, of course I am; can't a girl just come over to v-visit her cousin and… her cousin's g-girlfriend?" Hinata replied still nervous; crossing her arms.

"She's not my girlfriend, Hinata…" Neji replied through his teeth, annoyed, "Why don't you go play with your sister?" he asked, taking a sip of his beverage.

"Oh c-come on, you know I don't like her, she's m-mean." Hinata replied.

Neji raised an eyebrow and Tenten bit her lower lip. Hinata didn't know why they would do that, she stared at Neji; searching his face for an answer. He still had his beverage in his hand, which remained raised in front of his chest for when he was to take another sip. He moved his drink forward and extended his index finger off of it; pointing behind her. Hinata froze; she knew what was wrong.

"Y-You don't like me?" A voice from behind Hinata said.

Hinata turned around slowly and nervously. There stood a young girl, 5 years Hinata's junior, with a frown on her face and a game of 'Trouble' in her hands. Hinata's lower lip quivered; she could think of anything to say. Hanabi's eyes watered and tears were streaming down her face. She dropped the game of 'Trouble' to the floor and ran with all her might to her favorite hiding place for when Hinata said she hated her, her tree house in the back yard.

Gaara was dancing near the radio when all of a sudden the song was cut short; Gaara looked over at the radio.

"Hey everyone, sorry about that," Came a voice from the radio; it must be the announcer, "I'm Ray Grover and it's about 10:10, which means it's time for the late night vacation contest. I'll play a clip of a song, and then you can call in and give me the artist's name and the song title. If you win, you get a vacation for 15 people."

Everyone was quiet and listening to the radio by now; everyone wanted a vacation. The clip started playing and everyone was listening.

"_There were nights when the wind was so cold," _The clip began with a boy's voice,_ "that my body froze in bed if I just listen to in right outside the window."_ Suddenly a girl's voice came up, _"There were days when the sun was so cool, that all the tears turned to dust and I just knew my eyes were drying up forever." _Then both voices came up,_ "I finished crying in the instant that you left, and I can't remember where or when or how, and I banished every memory you and I had ever made."_

"I gave you all a pretty long clip, so call 936-1035 if you have the answer!" The announcer said as the commercials began to play.

"I love that song!" Gaara said happily. Everyone turned to him and stared. "What?" He said nervously.

"Do you know the name?" Naruto asked.

"Of course I do." Gaara replied, as if it was obvious.

Naruto quickly ran into the Hyuga complex and grabbed the first phone he saw and charged outside, dialing the number for the radio station. Waited a moment, got a busy signal, and then dialed again. Finally he got threw to the radio station. Naruto turned the radio down and listened to the phone.

"Hey, this is Ray Grover, who do we have on the line?" The announcer asked over the phone.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki; and my friend Gaara has the answer to your contest." Naruto said quickly.

"That's great, we're live in 5 seconds, kid, put your friend on." The announcer said. Naruto quickly threw the phone over to Gaara. He stared at it, confused.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked.

"Just talk to the guy and answer his questions!" Naruto said, excited.

"Uh, okay." Gaara put the phone up to his ear and listened.

"Alright, you're here with Ray Grover on 103.5, Shinobi fm," A weird slogan came up where there was a chorus of girls singing '_103.5, Shinobi fm' _in a round and weapons hitting each other could be heard, along with battle cries. Finally, after about 20 seconds of that, the announcer came back up, "Okay, we have Gaara on the line, Gaara?"

"Um, hello?" Gaara was still confused.

"I understand you have the name of the song for us?" Ray asked.

"Uh, sure." He replied, scratching his head.

"But just in case, I'm gonna play the clip again." Ray said as he started the clip again. Once the clip ended, the announcer's voice came back, "Gaara, do you have the Artist and song name for this song?"

"Yeah." Gaara stated knowingly, "That's 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now' by 'Meatloaf and Marion Raven'."

"Yeah, that's right." The announcer, "You have just won a vacation for 15 people."

"Really? That's awesome!" Gaara said grinning.

After telling the radio station all of the information required, Gaara hung up the phone and handed it back to Naruto.

"Guys, we're all going on vacation. There's nobody else I'd rather take with me on the vacation than the people who were all here when I won it." Gaara said happily. "Just the Rookie Nine, the spandex guy's team, my siblings and I!"

"What about me?" Hanabi said, standing behind Naruto.

"What about you." Neji stated angrily.

"Fine, I don't want to go on your stupid vacation anyway!" She yelled, running off.

"When is the vacation, anyway?" Temari asked her little brother.

"Tomorrow night we leave, and then we are gone for a week. We will meet at the docks on the south of the fire country at 8:30; that's where the cruse will be waiting." Gaara explained.

"Tomorrow night? That's hardly any time to get ready, not only that, but how are we going to explain to Tsunade-sama that we're all going to be gone for a week?" Ino questioned.

"Well, I'll talk to her; I'm sure I can persuade her." Gaara replied, shrugging.

"So, what do we do now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh, well, you can stay at the p-party for a little while longer, or you c-can go home and pack." Hinata suggested, intimidated by everyone's eyes on her.

"Yeah, this is awesome!" Naruto cried as loud as he could, "I'm staying here for a while longer."

"Okay, then I'm leaving." Sasuke said shrugging and turning to leave.

"Me too!" Sakura agreed, running after Sasuke.

"I must go, as well," Shino said politely, "Charlie does not like to stay out too late."

"Then, I think I got to go too; Akamaru's beat," Kiba said, leaving "Hey wait, no not up there! Akamaru, no!" He finished; running away to try and escape his dog.

"LEE!" a voice said from behind the compound.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee replied, running towards the exit.

"I'm tired; I think I'll be hitting the hay." Ino said, yawning and walking off drowsily.

"Me too." Chouji said, following Ino.

"Mm… If they're leaving, I guess I will too." Shikamaru said shrugging.

"Everybody's leaving already? The party's just getting started!" Naruto yelled after them, waving his arms like a maniac.

"I guess s-since everyone is leaving, the party is over." Hinata said to Naruto.

"Well, everyone includes us; so let's leave." Gaara said to his siblings, "I should pick up the tickets from the radio station, too."

"Uh, Okay," Temari agreed. She turned to Hinata, "Thanks for inviting us."

"N-no problem." Hinata replied shyly.

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari all said goodbye, thanked Hinata, and left. Naruto stood all alone in the middle of a small part of paved ground in the yard, arms by his side miserably. By now, it was very dark and grey, rain was starting to fall once again.

"Well, I guess that means I'll be going too." Naruto said walking off slowly.

"G-goodbye, Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly.

"Well, you're the last guest here." Neji said, turning to Tenten, "Are you going to go now, too?"

"I don't really have anywhere I'd rather be." She said taking another sip of her beverage, "Hey, what is this we're drinking anyway?" She asked.

"I don't know; I took it from the other side of the compound, where the adults are." Neji said, looking at the substance in his glass. It was a transparent liquid; one of which he had never tasted. It was too dark to see the label on the box he took, but he didn't seem to care enough to use his Byakugan to see. "I guess it doesn't really matter."

"_Hey…" Someone said, on the other side of the compound, "Didn't we used to have another box of sake?"_

Hinata began to clean up a little from the party; Naruto had crashed into many things over the past few hours. Rain was falling a little harder now; the sound of it hitting the ground was hard and sharp.

"I think we should go inside; the rain is picking up." Neji suggested to both Hinata and Tenten. They looked at him.

"I'm fine out here, all I need is an umbrella; father said that I must clean up right after the party." Hinata said grabbing an umbrella she had rested against a wall near the door.

"What about you?" He said turning to Tenten.

"I think I'll go inside with you." She replied as she started walking towards the door, "Hmm, I feel a little bit dizzy…" She said stumbling.

"It's probably nothing." He said, grabbing the box of beverages.

Suddenly, the power went out. All of the lights shining out from inside and all of the street lights flicked, and then completely went out. Everything was much darker, and only faint outlines of objects could be seen.

"I have a battery-powered lamp in my room, let's go up there," Neji said to Tenten, "Hinata," He looked over his shoulder, "Will you be alright out here?"

"Y-yes Neji." She replied, started by the sudden darkness. She activated her Byakugan.

Neji activated his Byakugan and entered the compound. It was even darker inside, the only light being the stars shining through the window. Neji headed in one direction, and Tenten followed the sounds of his footsteps.

"The power probably won't be out for long, I've got a game of 'Kerplunk' or something we can play until it's over, I guess." He said without looking back.

"Okay." She agreed.

Outside, Hinata was picking up some trash in the rain. The darkness seemed calm with the sound of rain hitting the ground. She hummed a quiet tune as she made her way across the yard. Yet, she knew that nothing ever went very smoothly when her and her friends did anything that was supposed to be fun. Something always went wrong.


	3. The Kerplunk Incident

**Chapter 3: The Kerplunk Incident**

The next morning was the same as the previous, dark, cloudy, and wet. Again, the blonde haired boy in the silly nightcap sat up in his bed and glanced outside. He hurriedly crawled to his window and called to the village again.

"GOOD MORNING, KONOHA!" He sang.

"Mommy, it's that boy again!" A little girl cried.

"Just don't look directly at him, dear." Her mother said, guiding the girl away.

Naruto pulled his head back into the window; ignoring the mother and daughter who seemed to be outside his window every morning. He jumped off of his bed and walked over to his dresser. He threw off his cap and bobbed his head to an unheard tune.

"When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you. When I go out yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you!" He sang as he strode to his closet to start packing for his vacation. "If I get drunk yes I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you, and if I haver yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you!" He continued; grabbing random articles of clothing and flinging them into a large suitcase. "But I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door!"

He continued singing and packing long into the day, then went to get ramen. After ramen, he would grab his stuff and head off to the docks in the south of the fire country.

Sasuke woke up and glanced at his clock. It was 8:08am. He sat up and swung his legs over one side of the bed. He stood up and walked over to his closet; he too had yet to pack for the vacation.

"A cruise…" He glanced around his closet; looking for clothes he would wear on the vacation. Finally, he decided to just take the numerous duplicates of the clothes he wore everyday. There was a knock on his door.

He walked over to it and looked threw the peephole with his left eye. There, he saw Sakura and Ino standing there waving like maniacs at the other side of his peephole. He rolled his eyes and kept the door closed.

"SASUKE-KUN!" He heard the combined voices of the two girls. "We know you're there!" They yelled.

He groaned and moved his hand over the doorknob. He was about to turn it when he heard a whisper.

"What if he really isn't there?" Sakura whispered to Ino.

"You didn't pull me out of bed at 8 o' clock in the morning and drag me over to Sasuke's house just so we could stand outside the door," She whispered back, "I'm out of here; I still need to pack."

"Wait!" Sakura yelled, chasing after Ino.

Sasuke sighed in relief as he stepped away from the door to continue packing; he really dodged a bullet there. Sasuke packed for about 30 minutes, and then he spent a few hours getting his hair perfect. After that, he went off to the docks early in case he ran into any trouble along the way.

Sakura chased after Ino for a while, but lost her fairly soon. She sulked the entire way back to her house, packed up quickly, then would go to the Konoha gates very early because she knew Sasuke would be going early and she wanted to meet him there.

Ino managed to escape Sakura and scurry off to her house hurriedly to pack. She packs massive amounts of clothing in a very small bag; which most people, if they saw how much she put in that little thing, would say it was physically impossible.

In a small house, a boy with a bowl cut lay snoring on a messy bed. The alarm clock beside him rang.

"YOUTH!" He shouted, springing up from his bed, the second the alarm sounded, with his fist in the air.

He had already finished packing 30 minutes after he woke up and was ready for a quick training session with his sensei before he would leave for the cruise.

"GAI-SENSEI!" He called into the sky as he stood outside his front door.

"LEE!" Sang a distant reply.

"Gai-sensei?" He looked around.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Gai called, flinging a kunai knife at Lee's feet. Lee looked down, confused. Suddenly, Gai himself flung from behind a very skinny telephone pole and kicked Lee in the face. "Lee! You must be ready for any attack; even one from your sensei!" Gai said, looking down at his student.

"Gai-sensei, how did you fit behind that pole?" Lee asked, holding his face.

"I don't know, Lee, I just don't know." He answered.

Gai and Lee ran off moments later to their favorite training spot and trained for a few hours. Then, Gai helped Lee travel to the south coast of the fire country for the cruise.

Shikamaru lay in his bed, facing the ceiling. His eyes one-quarter open; as they have been for several moments. He slowly turned his head to his clock; it said 10:23am. He had already packed the night before. He rolled over lazily, facing away from the door. An hour passed and Shikamaru felt two hands on his shoulder shaking him.

"Shikamaru!" Someone said, he could tell who it was because the voice sounded muffled by food.

"What is it Chouji?" Shikamaru asked drowsily.

"You have to get up!" Chouji said, shaking harder.

"Give me a few minutes…" He replied quietly.

"Mmm…" Chouji grunted, annoyed.

He left to go and ask Shikamaru's father for help. About five minutes later Shikamaru was beginning to relax again when suddenly a very loud booming noise burst through the house. It started out with a simple trumpet-like sound, but that grew into drums; loud drums. It was the stereo, his father put the stereo full blast; and this wasn't the first time. Shikamaru recognized the song right away.

"Ladies up in here tonight, no fighting, no fighting. We got the refugees up in here, no fighting. No fighting. Shakira, Shakira!" It rang through his head, "I never really knew that she could dance like this, she makes a man wants to speak Spanish, como se llama, si, bonita, si, mi casa, su casa, Shakira, Shakira!"

Shikamaru groaned in pain, this song was what his father always played whenever he wanted Shikamaru to do something. His eyes clamped shut and he held a pillow over his ears.

"Oh baby when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad, so be wise and keep on reading the signs of my body!" Shakira sang, he knew the lyrics so well, "I'm on tonight my hips don't lie, I'm starting to feel its right, all the attraction, the tension, don't you see baby, this is perfection."

"OKAY, OKAY, I'M UP!" Shikamaru yelled; he couldn't listen to another word of "My hips don't lie".

Almost instantly, the song stopped. Shikamaru stood up and got ready to go. Within ten minutes, he and Chouji began the long journey.

Gaara sat on the edge of his sister's bed, waiting for her to wake up. Kankuro was already awake and making sure he had enough clothes for the journey. Since they had come from the sand village, they already packed suitcases for the leaf village and were going to take those with them. The night earlier, after his siblings went to sleep Gaara spoke with Tsunade and she agreed to let the leaf ninja off duties for a week.

"Mm…" Temari began to stir. Kankuro glanced over at his siblings. Gaara moved slightly closer to Temari, smiling like a young boy. "Shikamaru…" She mumbled. Gaara's smile faded.

"Huh?" Gaara and Kankuro both grunted.

Temari's eyelids flickered quickly. Her fingers were twitching too. Kankuro sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"She's dreaming." Kankuro muttered.

"I'm waking her up." Gaara said moving his hand onto her shoulder and shaking her rather fiercely. "Temari, wake up." He commanded.

"Wha…" Temari grumbled, squinting her eyes against the light on the ceiling. Her eyes moved around the room and fixed on her youngest brother, "Gaara?"

"Wake up, we have to go soon." Gaara explained, "It's 9:40."

"Okay, let me go change." Temari said, slipping off the bed and falling face flat on the floor. She remained still for a few seconds before moving her palms onto the cold wooden floor and slowly pushing herself up. "I'm okay." She stumbled to her suitcase, grabbed some clothes, and went into the small bathroom.

"Girls are weird…" Gaara muttered.

"I hear that." Kankuro agreed.

Kiba received a rather rude awakening; Akamaru scurrying up the left leg of his pants. Kiba was having a wonderful dream: he was in a field of flowers, ice cream raining down on him, flying through the dense fog of bliss. He looked down and saw his little white dog sitting on the ground with his tail wagging happily. Suddenly, a pain shot through him, he fell to the ground and instantly woke up.

"Akamaru!" He yelled angrily.

"Kiba." A voice said.

"AKAMARU YOU CAN TALK?!" Kiba yelled, confused.

"No, it is I, Shino." Shino said, leaning to Kiba's doorframe, "It is a good thing you packed last night, because we have to leave now; it's already 12:20."

"12:20!" Kiba screamed as he leapt from his bed; Akamaru being flung from his pants.

"Yes, now, we must go." Shino replied, turning around and walking out the door.

"Coming!" Kiba yelled after him, grabbing his luggage. Luckily, Kiba predicted a predicament such as this, and he slept in his clothes.

"I spoke with Hinata over the phone; she says something interesting is happening at the Hyuga compound she can't miss, so we shouldn't wait for her."

"Oh, okay." Kiba said catching up with Shino.

Neji lay in his bed, his head pounding slightly. He didn't want to open his eyes just yet but he felt he had to. He cracked them open and stared at the roof. It was slightly dark in his room because of the cloudy skies but Neji preferred it like that.

But something felt wrong. He sensed a presence close to him, so he turned around in his bed. His heart stopped instantly at the sight. There was a girl, but not just any girl. It was Tenten.

Her eyes flickered open and she stared at him. At first, her eyes weren't focused and she didn't know what was happening. But her brain began working the second she locked eyes with Neji's and saw the terror in them. Her eyes widened when she realized the scenario she was in. She was nude. He was nude. They were in the same bed.

"AHHH!" Both of them screamed, grabbing covers and covering themselves. Neji jumped off of the bed, holding the blanket over himself. Tenten pulled as much blanket from beside her as she could and covered all but her neck and head.

"What the heck?!" Neji yelled, completely confused.

"What happened last night?" She asked loudly.

"I… I can't remember." He admitted.

"Neither can I…" She said, her lip quivering with fear.

The door suddenly slid open, "Hey Neji, I was wondering if you might like some…" Someone stopped mid sentence as he saw what was happening, "Tea."

"Uh, Uncle Iroh, it's not what it looks like." Neji said frantically.

Neji's uncle Iroh. He was a Branch family member who was his uncle on his mother's side. He always got Neji some calming tea in the morning.

"Then, what is it?" His uncle asked, interested.

"It's…" Neji was lost for words, his mouth just hung slightly open.

"Why don't you two just get everything straitened out and meet in the breakfast nook in ten minutes; the main branch will be joining us." His uncle said, a grin crossing his lips, "Oh, and bring your lady friend." He added, closing the door.

A silence hung in the air, neither one daring to speak. Neji looked down at the ground. He saw a box, the box from which the mysterious beverages had come. He looked closer and read the label.

"Sake." He stated, looking over to Tenten.

"Uh, what?" She asked.

"It was Sake, that's what we drank last night, and that's why we can't remember anything." He concluded.

"We were drunk?" She asked, her voice going slightly higher.

"I suppose so." He replied.

"Um… You don't think we…" She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

"Even if we were drunk, we would probably have enough sense not to do anything like that. We're still only thirteen." He resolved.

They both sighed in relief. Again, there was a very awkward pause.

"So… I think we should get dressed." Tenten said, looking at Neji.

"Yeah." Neji agreed. Luckily, their clothes were beside the bed, so they got dressed rather quickly; making sure not to look at each other.

When they were both fully dressed, Neji made the bed and picked up the scattered Kerplunk pieces and put them into the box. Then, they went down to the breakfast nook.

"Good morning Neji, Good morning…" Hinata paused, confused, "T-Tenten? You're still here?" She asked.

"Yes." Tenten said nervously, as she sat between Neji and Hinata.

For the next 30 minutes, the Hyuga's were asking all kinds of questions about Tenten. Finally, at about 9:30, Tenten went back home to grab some stuff while Neji and Hinata packed up their stuff. Tenten returned an hour and a half later to go with Neji to the southern docks. Hinata spoke with Shino and told him to wake up Kiba and for them to go on without her; she wanted to travel with her cousin and his friend.


	4. Stranded

**Chapter 4: Stranded**

It was 9:25pm on the coast of the fire country. Luckily, it was a private cruise; for only the 15 of them. So far, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Hinata were there. There was a rustle in the bushes. Both Naruto and Kiba burst through with their arms spread out.

"YAHOO!" They both screamed.

"Naruto-kun? Kiba?" Hinata was confused, "You traveled together?"

"We met in the forest on the way here!" Kiba shouted, even though he was only a few feet away from everyone.

"Unfortunately…" Shino muttered, coming out from behind them.

"Well, now that everyone is here, we can leave." Gaara said, turning to the cruise ship and walking on. Everyone else followed.

"Alright," The captain said to all of them once they got on, "There are 15 rooms; each one of you will get a room. Here are your keys," He handed everyone keys, "Enjoy."

"Thank you." Gaara said nodding curtly.

"Restrooms are in your rooms," the captain began, "the dining room is down the stairs and to your left, balcony entrance is through the glass doors in the dining room, and the recreation room is down the stairs and to your right." The captain smiled, and then left. Everyone was looking at their keys and memorizing their room numbers.

"Okay, we'll go to our rooms, unpack, and then we will meet in the dining room and get dinner." Gaara said to everyone.

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways. It took about 30 minutes for everyone to unpack and go down to the dining room.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba are here!" Naruto and Kiba chimed as they bounded into the dining room.

"Um, please sit down, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata suggested politely.

"Will do!" He yelled as he and Kiba jumped across the room and sat on both sides of Hinata. A waiter walked over to them and handed them each a menu.

"Is there anything I can get you to drink?" The waiter asked with a slight French accent.

"Yes, I would very much like to receive some milk," Lee asked, "it is good for my youthful bones."

"PEPSI!" Kiba and Naruto yelled together, causing Hinata to hold her ears in pain.

"Can I have some water?" Gaara said calmly.

"A Cosmopolitan for me, yeah!" Kankuro said bobbing his head with pride. Everyone paused and stared at him, "Hey, I can drink whatever I want. Alcohol always gets your mind off of things."

"Oh? And what exactly is it you want to get your mind off of?" Temari asked angrily.

"The fact that there are no women my age here for me to charm." He replied, laughing.

After everyone had ordered their drinks and entrées, they remained at the table talking about anything that came to mind. Currently, Lee was babbling about something rather loudly.

"…But Gai-sensei said 'no way can you beat me, I am the leaf village's handsome devil!', then a mist ninja says 'devil or not, my power shall crush you' and Gai-sensei replies 'even if your power crushes all but one ounce of my youth, Konoha will triumph with the power of my youthful student, Rock Lee!' and then I come bursting out of a bush and whip every one of the 18 opposing ninja with only one of my Leaf Hurricanes!" Lee screamed enthusiastically lunging from his chair onto the table and posing.

"Please," Neji turned to a waiter, "get me a bottle of Sake."

"But sir, I do believe you are underage." The waiter replied.

"I honestly don't care, please get it for me." He pressed, sounding a little irritated.

"Yes, sir." The waiter nodded and left.

The waiter returned with a bottle of Sake and handed it to Neji. Neji nodded his head politely. He swallowed almost the entire bottle in seconds. He seemed slightly tipsy, but more at ease. His eyes were half open drowsily by the time he finished the bottle and placed it on the table, satisfied.

"Neji! Neji!" Lee cried, waving at Neji as he stood on the table, not three feet from where Neji sat, "Look at me, I'm on a table!"

"Really? I didn't notice." Neji said, his eyes lazily drifting to his food.

"How could you not notice? I'm right here in front of you!" Lee laughed.

"It's called sarcasm, Einstein." Neji said slowly.

"Einstein?" Lee questioned.

"Yeah." Neji spoke very drowsily.

"My name is Lee." He stated.

"I was using sarcasm to say that you are unlike him." Neji explained.

"Unlike who?" He replied, utterly confused.

"Einstein!" Lee still wasn't getting the point. Now, everyone at the table was looking at them with questioning eyes.

"Who is that?" Lee asked.

"One of the greatest minds in history." Neji sounded irritated. Everyone was silent, and some had confused looks, "He created the theory of relativity." Still, some looked confused, "EMC2, PEOPLE!" Neji yelled, standing up, wobbly.

"Neji," Tenten whispered, sitting in the seat next to him, "Are you drunk?"

"Maybe." Neji stated quickly as he sat back down.

The night went on in that sort of manor, many people fighting, laughing, eating, some drinking, and some people even sang. Finally, everyone began to get tired.

"We should get to bed, so we can totally rock tomorrow!" Naruto screamed enthusiastically.

"Yahoo!" Kiba cried as he ran around in circles on all fours.

"AH-OO-GAH!" Kankuro joined in with the screaming.

Yet, for some reason, everyone had bad feelings in their stomachs. Like something was about to go wrong. Everyone went their separate ways and into their rooms at 12:30.

It was about 2:45am, everyone had gone to sleep (with the exception of Gaara) and the ship was silent. The captain looked out into the ocean. There was a terrible storm occurring, and the captain was having a hard time seeing where he was going.

"Captain," the co-captain said, "I don't like this. We can't see anything out here."

"I know…" The captain sounded worried.

Suddenly, out of the dark haze that surrounded the ship, something big and white came into view. It was massive, at least two times larger that the ship. It was terrifying, like nothing the captain or co-captain had ever witnessed.

"W-what is that thing?" The co-captain stuttered.

"I think," The captain's eyes grew larger at the realization that there was no way around it; they were going far too fast. "It's an Iceberg."

Gaara was sitting in his room, listening to some music on his stereo and singing along to it. The song he was listening to ended and another one started up. Gaara recognized it instantly. It was 'My heart will go on' by Celine Dion, from the soundtrack to the movie 'Titanic'. But the second it began, there was an intense booming noise that shot through the ship. Gaara almost lost his balance as the ship lurched in several different directions. Screaming came for every direction, as well as loud thundering crunching sounds.

"_Every night in my dreams I see you. I feel you. That is how I know you go on."_ Gaara's radio sang, loud enough to be heard through the turmoil.

Everyone burst out of their rooms at once and looked at each other's panicked and confused faces. The ship shook violently and the sound of metal bending and breaking filled the air. Everyone darted out of their rooms and shut their doors.

"What's going on?" Sasuke commanded.

"I don't know," Gaara answered, "it feels like we hit something. Hard."

"_Far across the distance, and spaces between us, you have come to show you go on."_ Gaara's radio sung louder than any of the snapping or crushing noises.

"We have to get out of here!" Lee cried; his eyes wide with fear.

"_Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on."_ The radio could be heard amongst all else. They all rushed to the dining room. Sasuke lunged at the door to kick it down, _"Once more you open the door,"_ They all ran through the room with trouble, it was quickly filling with water, _"And you're here in my heart, And my heart will go on and on."_

"Quickly, this way!" Gaara pointed to the door that leads to the balcony. Everyone nodded and followed him.

"There should be life boats, right?" Naruto asked loudly; his voice cracking.

"Yeah, hopefully." Gaara didn't even look back as he grabbed the handles and opened the doors.

"_Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime. And never go till we're one"_ Everyone burst outside in the pouring rain, the ice cold drops smashing around them, _"Love was when I loved you, one true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go on"_ They rushed along the balcony to where the boats were supposed to be, _"Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on."_ They looked to the spot the boats were to be tied up, but there were only loose ropes, _"Once more you open the door and you're here in my heart. And my heart will go on and on."_

"Where are the boats?" Kiba cried.

"There!" Shikamaru pointed out into the sea, they saw the entire crew floating away and waving back to them mockingly.

"_There is some love that will not go away" _The boats that the crew was in suddenly were stuck by a bolt of lightning, popping them instantly.

"Sasuke, I'm scared!" Sakura yelped as she grabbed Sasuke's arm and held on tight.

"_You're here, there's nothing I fear, and I know that my heart will go on." _The boat cracked suddenly in half, the half they weren't on plunging deep into the ocean. They looked forward and saw the iceberg that they had crashed into.

"This is pretty ironic, we're on a cruise ship, it crashes into an iceberg, there are not enough boats, and to top it all off, in the background there is the song from Titanic playing." Gaara laughed nervously.

"_We'll stay forever this way. You are safe in my heart,"_ The side of the boat they were on suddenly began falling, and everyone fell into the viscous ice cold water, _"And my heart will go on and on."_

The storm blown water furiously thrashed all around them, separating everyone. Gaara was able to use his sand to keep himself safe whist his sister used her fan and his brother used his puppet as a floatation device.

"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura cried as they swam as quickly as they could towards Sasuke and clung onto both of his arms, pulling him down and almost drowning him.

"Naruto-kun, help me!" Hinata wailed as she began to sink under the enormous waves.

"Hinata, hold on!" Naruto called back, swimming in her direction. The waves smashed into him, making it very hard to reach her. Kiba also swam towards her, with Akamaru in his arms. "Gotcha!" Naruto grabbed onto Hinata just as Kiba reached them and helped them stay afloat.

"It would be best if we could swim towards that island." Shino's voice came from behind them. They all turned to face him. "There." he pointed to a hazy deep green blur.

"Right!" Hinata, Naruto, and Kiba agreed, swimming alongside Shino and getting pushed by the waves to the suggested location.

"This way." Shino instructed to some others that he could see, pointing to the island.

Unfortunately, not everyone could see which way Shino was pointing, nor could they hear what he was saying. The harsh storm conditions were separating them. But, luckily, the waves were dragging them to the shore. The island did seem to be farther than they assumed. And with the stingingly sharp rain drops slowing them down, they knew it may take some time to reach the shore. Eventually, everyone saw the island, thanks to the guiding waves.

It was a couple of hours before they finally reached the island, though their journey had not been easy in the slightest. Especially for those whom were pushed to rocky areas. It was fairly dark out, yet it was visible that day was about to break. The dark storm clouds seemed to be gone where Gaara lay on the beach, staring at the sky.

"Gaara?" A voice said. Gaara turned his head to find none other than his brother and sister walking along the beach towards him.

"Temari, Kankuro, you lived." Gaara said, emotionlessly.

"You can't get rid of us that easily." Kankuro joked with a huge grin.

"Unfortunately." Gaara replied in a serious tone. Gaara stood up and turned to his siblings, "Shall we find the survivors?"

"Alright." Kankuro agreed, "But I don't think anyone really could have died."

"Where do we start?" Temari asked.

"Here." Gaara put his hands together and then touched them to the sand beneath their feet. A large wave of sand rose from the ground, causing his siblings to step back. The sand quickly hardened and formed an arrow pointing down, to show whoever sees the arrow to go the location Gaara and his siblings stood. "That should do it."

Suddenly, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino came around a rock and rushed towards them. They all appeared to be wet and a little dirty, but still unharmed. Kiba and Akamaru both smelled like wet dog, though.

"Hey!" Kiba and Naruto waved.

"Behind you, there is a massive arrow!" Kiba pointed at Gaara's sand arrow.

"We are aware." Gaara rolled his eyes.

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto asked, confused.

"We wait for the others." Gaara instructed.

"Shikamaru," Ino yelled to the sea, "Where the hell are you?"

"He's probably sleeping on the beach somewhere." Chouji commented.

"Do me a favor and shut that big gaping black hole in the middle of your face you call a mouth!" Ino yelled, spitting on him.

"Don't yell at me," Chouji whined, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"This whole mess," Ino sucked in a breath, "IS YOUR FAULT!"

"Why is it my fault?" He asked.

"Because I said so!" she replied, her face red with anger.

"The bitch's words pierce me like a knife." Chouji sarcastically remarked.

"What did you just call me?" Ino fumed.

"A bitch." Chouji stuffed a handful of chips from a bag he was holding into his mouth.

"Would you please shut your face you fat, stupid, disrespectful, unimportant, garbage disposal!" Ino screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Well," Chouji thought, "Since you said please." He agreed.

"Hey guys." A drowsy voice said from behind a rock.

"Shikamaru," Ino spoke as Shikamaru emerged from behind the rock, "where the hell were you?"

"Having a nap." He yawned.

"A nap!" Ino snapped, "This is no time to be having a goddamn nap!"

"I was tired." Shikamaru defended.

"Shut it!" She screamed louder.

"Why are you screaming about," Another voice said from a bush, "Ino-pig?"

"Billboard-brow? I would have though you died in the storm." Ino grinned.

"I hung onto Sasuke for protection." She stated, dragging Sasuke by his shirt sleeve from behind the bush as she stepped out.

"Not fun." Sasuke informed them.

"Hey," Shikamaru pointed in a direction, "Is that an arrow?"

"Yeah, it must be Gaara trying to contact us!" Ino bounced up and down.

"Let's hurry and get over there!" Sakura joined in with the bouncing.

"But it's far." Shikamaru whined.

"Let's go!" Ino and Sakura screamed, thrusting their fists into the air. They began running in the direction of the arrow. The three boys sighed and followed.

It only took them about 20 minutes to reach the desired location, where Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata were standing on the beach conversing. Ino and Sakura waved wildly to them at first sight, whereas the boys just walked drowsily behind them. Naruto and Kiba waved back to them.

"Hey, you guys see the arrow too?" Naruto asked.

"We sure did." Sakura replied.

"It's weird, right? Where do you think it came from?" He contemplated. Everyone else except Kiba, sweat dropped at his stupidity. "Just a miracle I guess."

"So," Sasuke began, "Who are we missing?" Everyone looked around at each other.

"I-I think we're missing cousin Neji and his team." Hinata said quietly.

"I hope they get here soon, I don't want to wait very long." Sasuke said impatiently.

"I have some food in my hat," Kankuro took off his hat, "For emergencies."

"Why?" Gaara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For times such as this." He proudly stated. He lowered his hand into his hat and rummaged around. He pulled out a bag of chips, a granola bar, a flashlight, and a pair of sunglasses. Everyone looked confused. "What? You never know what can happen." He put his hand back in and drew something out; something no one expected.

"Youth!" Lee shouted as he was pulled from Kankuro's hat.

"What? But… how did you… my hat…" Kankuro was utterly shocked.

"It is very nice and organized in there." Lee said smiling as Kankuro flipped his hat upside down and dumped out the remaining contents: several chocolate bars, bags of chips, cupcakes, cookies and a small tub of peanut butter.

"How can all that fit in there?" Temari asked.

"I never really thought of that." Kankuro lowered his eyebrows and looked at his hat.

"How did he fit in there?" Sakura asked, pointing to Lee.

"I was in the cold waters, next thing I know I'm getting pulled out of a hat." Lee explained truthfully. "So," Lee spoke to everyone, "where are we?"

"We're on an island, apparently." Sasuke informed him.

"Where are my teammates?" Lee asked. There was a silence, "Have you yet to find them?" He asked seriously.

"They're probably dead." Gaara said emotionlessly.

"I highly doubt that," Lee looked at the sky, "they're unlucky sometimes, but not that unlucky."

"Unlucky, huh?" Naruto muttered thoughtfully.

"Yes, they are always getting themselves into the worst situations." Lee laughed.

Everyone looked around to see if there were any clues to where they might be. Everyone's gaze slowly drifted to the opposite side of the very long island. They could just barely see it was so far away. The clouds were much darker and lighting struck deep within the clouds. Thunder rolled quietly to their ears, but they knew on the other side of the island the sound would be deafening. They all raised their eyebrows.

"Y-You don't think…" Hinata stuttered, looking worried and concerned.

Neji lay on the wet sand, he was drenched and not getting any dryer, thanks to the harsh rain pouring down upon him. He stared up at the sky. The clouds parted and shone a very small concentrated light upon his face, preventing the rain from hitting him. The light was warm and comforting. But it didn't last very long.

"Neji!" A feminine voice echoed through his head. The light that illuminated his face was instantly gone and rain soaked him again. "Are you alright?" A girl knelt by his side and stared at him with concerned eyes.

"I'm fine, Tenten." He said coldly pushing her away as he stood up.

"Sorry for being worried." She crossed her arms angrily.

"It appears we're on an island; we were much too far away from any coast to have washed up there." Neji figured, "Everyone else is probably nearby, too."

"Yeah, but what do we do right now? We're cold, wet, and we have no shelter or food. What do you suppose we do?" She sounded a little irritated.

"Make a shelter, get dry, and then perhaps if the others have not found us we will find some food." He stated, looking to the nearby forest.

"I will follow you blindly!" She stood next to him proudly.

"What did you say?" He asked suspiciously.

"Uh, I said nothing." She lied, her eyes shifting.

"Get to work, go find some sturdy branches and I'll find something to put them together with." He ordered.

"Okay!" She saluted and rushed off into the forest. Neji raised an eyebrow.

"What a weird girl." He said to himself, rolling his eyes in irritation.


	5. Akatsuki

**Chapter 5: Akatsuki**

"What do we do?" Naruto asked, turning to Gaara.

"Why are you asking me?" He replied angrily.

"Because you won the vacation, so you're the leader." Naruto pleaded.

"That's a bad excuse," Gaara paused, "But okay."

"Alright," Sasuke looked towards Gaara, "what is it you want us to do?"

"We will eat a little bit, and then we will go to the other side of the island. This island looks dangerous, so don't put you guard down for an instant." He instructed.

"Okay, now let's eat!" Kankuro sat down on the ground and began to scarf down the eatable contents of his hat. Everyone else shrugged and began to eat with him.

After eating for an hour, they decided they were going to leave. Kankuro took the excess items from his hat and put them away where they first belonged. Chouji also had a large amount of food with him, but was saving that for if and when they really needed it. They all got prepared and started their quest. It was late morning by then, and the clouds still hung low. So low, in fact, the fog was so thick they couldn't see 5 meters in front of them.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm totally freaked out!" Sakura latched herself onto Sasuke's arm.

"Get off." He pushed her away unemotionally.

"Shikamaru, I'm scared!" Ino grabbed his arm and quickly received a harsh kick to the shin. She fell onto the ground holding her leg. She looked up at who did that to her, "Temari? Why did you kick me?"

"I had a feeling Shikamaru didn't like that very much." She shrugged.

"She's right," Shikamaru agreed, "that was troublesome."

"Was it necessary to kick me?" She complained.

"No," Temari replied, "but I wanted to."

"Fine, be that way!" Ino yelled, scurrying over to Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun!"

"There are two of them!" He yelled as Ino and Sakura attached to him like leeches. He tried to push them off but they were clamped on tight. He reached into his small beige fanny-pack and pulled out a small transparent glass bottle with a lid that was a cork on a chain, attached to the bottle. He pried the lip off with his teeth and threw the liquid into the air. The spray coved all three of them. Ino and Sakura let go of him instantly.

"It burns!" They screamed. Everyone could hear the liquid burning and sizzling as it hit the girls. As it hit Sasuke, however, it made slight sizzling noises when it landed on the places the girls touched, but no where else.

"What is this stuff?" Sakura screamed, in pain.

"Holy water." Sasuke said, glowing with pride. The fog cleared up above him and shone a bright yellow-orange light that illuminated him.

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped into the light and it was instantly gone.

"Come on, hurry up." Gaara said over his shoulder. He had been in front, leading them, the entire way. Everyone nodded and followed after him.

It had been a few hours now, the sky was getting a little darker and everyone was tired, hungry, and bored. The fog had cleared up by now and the rain had slowed. All seemed calm, but not for long. There was a rustling in the bushes, and then something suddenly burst out.

"A bear!?" Naruto hollered.

"What do we do?" Lee asked loudly. The bear's growling and roaring was loud enough to deafen them.

"Everyone stay clam and-" Sasuke was cut of by Naruto.

"I know what to do!" He yelled.

Quickly he grabbed a bag of Doritos 'Sweet Chili Heat' Chouji had in his hand. He held a chip out in front of him. Out of nowhere, Kiba held up three signs around the chip, one on every side that said 'Bold', 'Hot', or 'Sweet'.

"There are three sides to Doritos' new Sweet Chili Heat," Kiba said to no one in particular, "which will you play with?"

Naruto brought the chip to his mouth and took a bite, "Bold." The walked over to the roaring bear and held his finger up to it, "No, that's enough." The bear didn't stop growling. "It's getting bold out." He said as he tilted his head up and to the side. The bear continued to growl. It swiped its claws across Naruto's chest, flinging him back.

"Uh, there are three side to Doritos' new Sweet Chili Heat," Kiba repeated, "which will you play with?"

Naruto reached back into the chip bag and ate another, "Hot." He ran back over to the bear and waved his arms at it. "It's hot, HOT!" he swatted his back with his hands, "Stop, drop, and roll, stop, drop, and roll!" He fell on the floor and rolled around. The bear roared louder and grabbed Naruto's shirt with its teeth and threw him into a tree. "What's the matter," He said, getting up and brushing himself off, "can't take the heat?"

"Once more!" Kiba commanded.

"Sweet." Naruto ate another chip and strolled over to the bear. He picked up a blade of grass and brought it to his mouth, trying to play it like an instrument. Nothing was happening, however. Suddenly Sasuke kicked the bear in the back of the neck, knocking it unconscious. "Sweet dreams," Naruto petted it, "misunderstood giant."

"Can we just leave?" Gaara asked, irritated.

"Did you guys see the way I handled that bear?" Naruto beamed.

"I-it was great Naruto-kun." Hinata said softly.

"What about me?" Kiba asked, grinning.

"Y-you were okay too, Kiba." She said quietly.

"Hurry up, it's getting late; I can't wait for you forever." Sasuke groaned.

"Coming!" Naruto and Kiba yelled together as they ran to catch up to everyone else.

"Neji," Tenten walked out of the forest dragging multiple branches with her, "I have the branches. Where are you?"

"Here." He said from behind a tree.

She carried them with her and walked to where Neji was. There were many vines all laid out on the ground. She put the long sturdy branched with them, relieved she was no longer supporting the heavy things.

"What do we do now?" She asked.

"I think we should build the shelter on the beach; it's pretty windy here and there are a lot of fallen trees, we wouldn't like being crushed by some would we?" Neji said grabbing some vines.

"Right." She agreed and helped him carry everything onto the beach. The branches and vines were wet because of the rain, but she was already wet so she wasn't so concerned.

After about an hour the shelter was built. They gathered supplies they may need and set multiple traps incase of danger. It was already night and the sky was pitch black. They were both starving and tired. Neji was going to try and start a fire; if he could find any dry logs in the forest. Tenten, meanwhile, kept herself entertained while Neji was gone by scraping a drawing on a rock with a kunai inside their shelter. She grinned at her accomplishment.

"Hello, Neji." She stared at the rock she carved on. It had the caged bird curse seal on its forehead, Byakugan eyes, and a very wide grin; for some reason. "How are you today?" She raised it to her ear, "Really? You think I'm pretty? Thanks." She giggled, "You love me? I love you too!" She brought it closer to her lips and was about to kiss it when a bolt of lightning flashed behind her and she saw the shadow of someone standing behind her. She spun around, "Neji, how did it go? Did you get any wood?" She was nervous and spoke quickly.

"Um, I didn't find any but I got some fruit. I didn't mean to interrupt." He raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"You didn't, I was just, uh, sharpening my kunai!" She held the kunai knife up to him.

"Okay…" He stepped inside and handed her an apple.

"There are apples around here?" She asked.

"Yes," He replied, "along with many others."

"Thank you." She smiled sweetly. He replied with a nod.

They ate for a few minutes and decided to go to bed and hope the others would find them soon. It was freezing cold out and the wind blew harshly. They were still soaking wet and were lying on a bunch of large leaves. It may have been a small and faulted shelter, but it was the best they could do under such circumstances. Neji lay facing the wall with his back to Tenten. He was still wide awake and stared at the wall. He knew she was awake, too, her breathing was uneven and she was moving restlessly.

"Neji," she whispered, "I'm cold."

He knew what she was doing. In his spare time he read romance novels, and he had read enough of them to understand what she was going to suggest. It was always the same: the girl would say she was cold, the guy would agree, and they would resort to cuddling together and sharing body heat.

"Here." He turned around slipped his shirt off and slipped it over her head, "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks." She smiled, "Are you going to be warm enough?"

"I'll be fine." He spun back over and sighed in relief.

"If you get cold," She whispered in his ear, "This shirt is pretty big…"

"I'm perfectly fine." He said shut his eyes and moved closer to the wall. He shivered, feeling the cold wind blow over him. The thought to himself.

_Fate,_ _why do you always put me in such predicaments?_

"How far do you think we've gone?" Sasuke asked Gaara.

"I'm not entirely sure; this guy slowed us down a lot so it's hard to be sure." He looked back at Naruto and watched him trip multiple times and drag others down with him.

"Hey, bro," Kankuro looked over at Gaara, "I think we should make camp."

"Why did you call me 'bro'?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know; you're my bro." Kankuro grinned as Gaara sweat dropped.

"Can we please just stop and go to sleep or something? I'm tired." Shikamaru yawned.

"Fine." Gaara clapped his hands together. Sand surrounded everyone and created a very large dome. There was no light inside, however, so Kankuro had to turn on the flashlight he had in his hat.

"I'll go outside and stand guard." Gaara stated, leaving. He sat on the top on the dome, outside, with only a small sheet of sand hovering over his head. He sighed. It was lonely being him, especially because of his insomnia. To pass the time, he would usually sing to himself. And that's precisely what he did, "What is courage? Is it brave? What are lions? I've only seen them in parades. How is love supposed to read, in a footnote of history?" He sang as he looked up at the dark, cloudy skies, "What's a tap on your shoulder, that you're afraid to look over? A soldier's down in a fire fight. No one can look me in the eye." He sang louder, thinking no one would hear, "This is what it means to be alone."

Gaara thought that his dome was soundproof, but that little sheet of sand he used to keep himself dry opened a small hole in the side of the sandy fortress. Everyone sat inside listening to the beautiful music that traveled through the small hole. They knew it was Gaara, but it sounded nothing like him. The dryness of his throat was gone, the scratchiness of his voice, too. His voice was complimented by the soft sound of rain hitting the sides of the dome and the otherwise silence of the night.

"Tear out my heart. Feed it to lions. For this one wish I beg you this tonight, show me no mercy, but spare me my pride. I'm going for a drive." Gaara sang, "And if you find out he's coming home, when I come around the corner. I'll know that it's alright. Just leave me two lights."

The night went quickly. Gaara sang on the top of the sand dome while the others fell asleep listening to his voice. During the night, Gaara had gathered some fruit from nearby; making sure not to stray too far.

"GOOD MORNING KONO- I mean FRIENDS!" Naruto yelled as he woke up. He was never really an early riser, unless someone pushed him awake. This someone was Gaara.

"We have to go soon, hurry and eat breakfast and we'll leave right away." Gaara commanded as he woke the remaining couple of people who had not been awakened by the screaming of Naruto.

Everyone who was awake nodded as they helped wake up the rest. After everyone was woken up they had their breakfast. The fruits were very tasty and very juicy, but Chouji and Kankuro preferred eating their bags of chips and chocolate bars. In a matter of minutes, everything Gaara had collected had been consumed and it was time to leave.

"Why is it so dark?" Shikamaru complained as they began walking.

"Because the sun hasn't even come up yet, and storm clouds are everywhere." Temari explained, sounding drowsy.

"How long do you think it'll take to reach the other side?" Sasuke asked Gaara.

"I don't know; probably not too long." He said looking at the sky.

"I-I could see if I can see them with my Byakugan…" Hinata suggested.

"Great idea Hinata!" Naruto and Kiba said together.

"T-thanks…" She did a few hand signs then forced her chakra to her eyes, creating veins on her temples, "Byakugan!" she looked forward and smiled, "It's not too far ahead; I can see the beach."

"Alright! Nice work Hinata!" Naruto jumped up and down with joy

"Let's hurry and get them so we can go back to the good side of the island; the rain is really heavy here." Ino whined, soaking wet.

"YEAH!" Naruto tried to jump as high as he could, but slipped on a wet rock and fell flat of his back.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata rushed to his aid, "Medicine!" She handed him a small container of medical ointment.

"No thanks Hinata, I'm fine!" He rose to his feet and posed, but was instantly struck by lightning. "Uh…" He managed to groan, "I'll take that medicine now, please."

"Move it, loser." Sasuke said over his shoulder.

"O-okay…" Naruto stood up slowly and followed Sasuke and the rest of them.

It took them about 30 minutes to reach the beach through the dense fog and pounding rain; which only got worse as they reached the beach. They saw a very small hut-like-thing made of wood and vines built on the beach. They heard a small whimper and turned around, only to see Naruto hanging upside-down from a tree by a vine.

"Damn it!" He cursed.

"Get down, loser." Sasuke spat, throwing a kunai knife at the vine, cutting it.

"Look at this thing," Gaara referred to the wooden shelter, "you think they're in there?"

"I believe so!" Lee said hopefully.

Lee grabbed Kankuro's flashlight, ran around the hut, and stopped at the door, which was facing the sea. Lee looked inside and froze, he looked stunned. Only a small grunt escaped his lips before he fell backwards. Everyone looked at each other questioningly, and then ran where Lee was. Sasuke grabbed the flashlight out of Lee's hand and shone it inside. Neji and Tenten were still sleeping. Neji had no shirt, but Tenten had two, and she was spooning him. There was virtually no space between Neji's back and Tenten's chest.

"N-Neji?" Hinata whispered to her sleeping cousin inside the hut.

"Mmm…" He groaned. His eyes flickered and opened. He looked at everyone at the entrance, confused, "What are you all doing here?"

"We came looking for you, and I have to say, I wasn't expecting this." Naruto grinned and laughed.

"What?" Neji lowered his eyebrows. He suddenly felt and arm draped over him. He grabbed it, moved it, and sat up quickly, "Oh."

"Where's your shirt, buddy?" Kankuro mocked.

"Shut it." He growled angrily.

"Neji," Tenten whined, still sleeping, "come back to bed…"

"Wake up." He commanded.

"Hmm?" She sat up and looked at everyone, wiping sleep from her eyes tiredly, "Oh, you finally found us."

"Yes, and if you don't mind, you're going to have to come with us back to the other side of the island; it's much dryer." Gaara said crossing his arms.

"Yeah, okay." Neji agreed, standing up.

"Oh, Neji, here's your shirt." Tenten said handing it to him. He nodded awkwardly and put it on.

They began walking. The rain seemed to be slowing, and the fog had cleared up quite a bit. The sun had risen but the day was still dark, thanks to the clouds. Kankuro was grinning and staring at Neji.

"What do you want?" Neji asked.

"I just wanted to know…" Kankuro's smile grew, "While you were in that hut thing, did you and that girl… You know?" he raised and lowered his eyebrows repetitively.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Did you… you know…" Kankuro nodded. Neji just stared at him blankly. He whistled, but still Neji didn't understand. He growled, made a noise like an injured cat, thrust his pelvis while saying "ah-oo-gah", fell on the ground, rolled around, and knocked on the ground with his fist. "You know!" Kankuro yelled desperately.

"I have no idea what you're trying to say. Us Hyuga's don't get out much." Neji said still trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Did you… Read her book? Turn on her light? Open her door? Spin her wheels? Rock her boat? Bounce her ball? Pump up her volume? Play her game? Ignite her flame? Love her handles?" Kankuro smiled.

"I still don't know what you're saying." Neji continued to stare blankly at him.

"Did you two have sex?" Gaara said walking past them, clearing everything up for Neji.

"What? No, we only slept together." Neji stated.

"Slept together, huh?" Kankuro winked, "Way to go, stud." He laughed and walked off.

"Hn…" Neji grunted.

Fortunately, the rain had almost completely stopped. Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara were walking in the front, guiding the way; since Neji has his Byakugan, Gaara has his sand, and Sasuke has his Sharingan. The sun had risen hours ago by now. It was late afternoon, but not cold. It was pretty warm, but very dark.

"There's a cave up ahead." Neji stated, using his Byakugan to see farther than the others.

"Should we go towards it?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm…" Neji inspected it further, "There seems to be inhabitants."

"How many?" Gaara questioned.

"There appears to be 10," He replied, "and they're human, more or less."

"What are you guys talking about up here?" Naruto yelled, running up to them.

"There's a cave." Sasuke informed him.

"Hey guys, they've found a cave!" Naruto screamed at the rest of them. Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara all slapped their foreheads.

"Be quiet." Sasuke commanded.

"Why?" Naruto yelled.

"Because there are people inside and we don't know if they're friendly." He explained.

"Oh." Naruto scratched the back of his head, "So what do we do?"

"Let's go closer." Neji said walking in the direction of the cave. The others followed.

They stood behind a small rock next to the entrance of the cave, remaining hidden. There was a lot of noise coming from inside; it sounded like music and laughing. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. They heard footsteps coming closer.

"Why do I have to take out the trash?" A male voice said from inside.

"I know I've heard that voice before." Sasuke whispered quietly.

"Because I did it last time, it's your turn!" A second, scratchier male voice stated from further inside the cave.

"Fine!" The first voice sounded annoyed and continued to mutter. The speaker came into view, finally, carrying a black bag of garbage over one shoulder.

"YOU!" Sasuke jumped out from behind the rock and pointed at him. Everyone else came out from behind the rock and looked at the man standing before them.

"Oh," The man looked at him and smiled, "hello Sasuke."

"Itachi..." Sasuke frowned.

Itachi was much taller than Sasuke. His hair was black and done up in a ponytail. He was wearing a black cloak with little red clouds in some areas. His eyes were probably black like Sasuke's, but now they were in Sharingan state; red with three black dots around the edges. He also had deep wrinkles beside his nose that begin near his eyes. His forehead protector had the sign of the Leaf.

"Are you still upset about what happened all those years ago?" Itachi frowned.

"YES! How could I not be?" He fumed.

"The family had it coming." Itachi shrugged.

"So you killed them all?" Sasuke yelled angrily.

"Yes. Now, Sasuke, introduce me to all your friends." He waved to them.

"Itachi," The scratchy voice said coming to the entrance, "who are you talking to?"

"Kisame, this is my little brother I told you about." Itachi pointed to Sasuke.

"Nice to meet you." Kisame grinned.

Kisame seemed to resemble a shark. His skin had a weird blue tint, he had very small beady eyes, and cut-like streaks on his upper cheeks that may have been gills. He was also very tall with deep blue hair. He had a very wide, toothy grin. He wore the same cloak as Itachi did and had a sword wrapped in bandages on his back. His forehead protector had the sign of the Hidden Mist.

"Sasuke," Itachi looked over at him, "this is my partner, Kisame."

"Partner?" Sasuke looked disgusted, "You're gay?"

"What? No, he's my partner in an organization we are in called the Akatsuki. The rest of us are inside, would you like to meet them?" Itachi asked.

"No, I want to kill you!" Sasuke yelled.

"You can't at your current level." He shook his head.

"One day I will. ONE DAY!" Sasuke cried.

"Come on, why don't you tell me all your friends' names, then we can all go inside the cave and meet my friends." Itachi suggested.

"Fine…" Sasuke pointed to Naruto "Uzumaki Naruto," He continued pointing to people as he said their names, "Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji, Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Sabaku no Gaara, Temari, Kankuro…" Sasuke bit his lip trying to remember a name.

"Tenten." She said, annoyed.

"Right… and that's all of them." Sasuke stated.

"What about me?" Chouji asked, his mouth full of food.

"Oh, yeah, and Akimichi Chouji." Sasuke corrected.

"Itachi," A very feminine person with a deep voice came out of the cave, "it takes you quite a long time to take out the trash."

"Deidara, this is my younger brother and some of his friends." Itachi said.

Deidara looked very different from Itachi and Kisame. His voice was definitely a guy's, but his appearance was different. He had blonde hair that was covering half of his face and the rest done up in a pony tail on the top of his head. His forehead protector has the sign of the Rock.

"Oh, nice to meet you. Kisame, have you seen Larry?" Deidara asked.

"You mean the bear? Nope." Kisame shrugged.

"Larry? Larry?" Deidara called into the woods.

"Shut up woman, your goddamn bear isn't coming!" A voice said from Deidara's direction.

"I'm not a woman!" He yelled at his right hand.

"What's that… person's damage?" Naruto asked Kisame.

"He looks like a girl, but I'm pretty sure he's a guy. And he has a mouth in each of his hands." Kisame said, annoyed by Naruto.

"Oh." Naruto was a little shocked.

"Anyway, follow me; my friends are inside." Itachi began walking into the cave, followed by Kisame and Deidara. Everyone exchanged glances with each other then followed, cautiously.

They came to a part in the cave where the music was coming from. It was well lit up, lights all around; all different colours. They saw 7 people within the lights. There was a man sitting and praying on a rock, someone playing with puppets, someone with an orange and black mask being used as a footstool by someone who's face couldn't be seen because the lights were far too bright, someone who was smacking at a piñata shaped as a nine tailed fox who's eyes were the only thing visible, someone throwing money and smelling it, and finally there was someone who didn't look like a person at all, they looked more like a venues fly trap with a body; who was line dancing to the music.

"Alright, now," Itachi turned to where Sasuke was supposed to be but there was no one. Itachi looked around and saw nobody. He shrugged, "I guess he had to go." Itachi walked over to the rest of the Akatsuki and began hitting the piñata with a bat.


	6. Gai Sensei The Savior

**Chapter 6: Gai Sensei the Savior**

They all ran through the forest as fast as they could, putting as much distance between them and the Akatsuki as possible. Finally, once they were far enough away, they stopped to catch their breaths.

"I thought you said they were human!?" Naruto yelled at Neji.

"They were, more or less." Neji said.

"I wasn't expecting _that_!" He cried, panting.

"What do we do now?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Let's take a rest." Kankuro sat down on the ground.

"Sasuke, now that we're alone…" Sakura smiled.

"But, we're not alone; everyone else is here." Sasuke rolled his eyes and sat down.

"It doesn't matter." Sakura sat down next to him, "Take me."

"What?" Sasuke said very quickly.

"Take me." She repeated.

"I don't know what you mean." Sasuke shuffled away from her.

"TAKE ME!" She lunged at him. She cupped her hands over his ear and whispered something to him. His eyes widened and he shifted away from her.

"Oh, GOD, no!" He shook his head.

"Why?" She whined.

"Because I don't want to!" Sasuke moved as far away from her as possible.

"Oh, fine. But I'll always be waiting!" She grinned.

"I miss Gai-sensei!" Lee whined, tears flowing over his cheeks.

"Stop crying, we'll get out of this." Naruto commanded.

"BUT GAI-SENSEI!" Lee fell on the ground.

"Yelling for him won't help us." He sounded irritated.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled to the sky.

"LEE!" A cry from the distance rang through the forest.

"Gai-sensei?" Lee questioned.

"LEE!" The voice got louder.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee stood up and listened for a reply.

"I'M COMING LEE!" The voice was very close.

"GAI-SE-" Lee was cut off by a kunai shooting through the forest and sticking into a tree behind him with a "_Puh_".

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Gai leapt through the trees foot-first. He kicked Lee in the face, knocking him down. "Lee! Are you alright?" Gai cried, helping his student up.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee did a thumbs-up.

"Oh, Lee! I'm so glad!" Gai hugged him, "I sensed that you were in trouble, so I _borrowed_ a fleet of canoe's and came looking for you! I didn't think I'd find you, that is, until I heard you yelling for me."

"Gai-sensei, I can always count on you!" Lee cheered. "Wait, how do I know you're the _real_ Gai-sensei?"

"You're right; ask me a question only I would know." He grinned.

"Yes, Gai-sensei, with the exception of you, who is my best friend?" He asked with confidence.

"Trick question: you don't have any friends." Gai beamed.

"You really are Gai-sensei!" He cried. Everyone, with the exception of Neji and Tenten, stood wide eyed at the scene. Lee and Gai continued to hug and cry for a few minutes before Lee said something, "Gai-sensei, I feel like something is missing…"

"Hmm…" Gai looked around. Neji and Tenten raised their hands. Gai snapped his fingers when his eyes landed on them, "Neji! Elizabeth!" Gai gave them two thumbs-ups, "How have you two been?"

"It's Tenten, my name is Tenten." She stated.

"Yes, Lizzy." Gai nodded and smiled.

"You always forget about us, remember that time at the amusement park near the Ferris wheel?" Neji narrowed his eyes. Gai and Lee tried to remember.

_Neji and Tenten stood near a Ferris wheel with four melted ice cream cones, one in each of their hands. The sky was almost black, the sun had set an hour ago and the stars began to come out. Everyone else at the amusement park had gone home. _

"_Neji, I'm sure they'll be here any minute." Tenten said, turning to her friend._

"_You said that an hour ago, and the hour before that. They're not coming." Neji shook his head._

"_Maybe we should wait just a little longer," She looked at her watch, "it's only been eight hours…"_

"_They said two minutes, Tenten. I think they forgot about us, again." Neji put the ice creams he was holding in the trash can next to them and wiped the melted substance off with a napkin._

"_You're probably right…" She threw her ice creams away and wiped her hands off._

"_Come, I'll take you home." Neji began walking in the direction of her house. She hurried after him._

"That's ancient history, Neji!" Gai laughed.

"Yes, you and Lizzy are past that incident, right?" Lee asked.

"That is not the only time. _Tenten _and I still hold it against you." Neji sighed.

"Grudges are funny that way. Anyway let's take all of you to safety!" Gai spoke to everyone, "THAT WAY!" Gai pointed to where he came from.

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee jumped onto Gai's back as he began running. Everyone else followed, walking. "WE'LL CARRY ON!" Lee sang, "WE'LL CARRY ON! And though you're dead and gone believe me; your memory will CARRY ON!"

"WE'LL CARRY ON!" Gai joined in and they sung together, "And in my heart I can't contain it! The anthem won't explain it!"

Within a few minutes of running, Gai and Lee finally made it out of the forest. Lee jumped off of Gai and they hugged each other in joy. Two minutes later, everyone else came through the trees and onto the beach with them. It was true; there was a fleet of canoes just resting on shore.

"Alright, everyone take a canoe, I have 8." Gai grinned.

"But there are 16 of us." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah," Gai thought, "The canoes are big enough for two. Lee, you're with me." Gai gave Lee a thumbs-up.

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee returned the gesture.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura jumped on him.

"Oh no…" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Temari, will you be on my boat?" Shikamaru asked drowsily.

"Sure." She replied.

"Everyone into their boats!" Gai pointed to the fleet.

"Hinata!" Both Kiba and Naruto shouted.

"Um…" Hinata was confused.

"Hinata," Naruto smiled, "you can go with whoever you want."

"Uh… I don't want to make anyone sad…" She played with her fingers.

"It's okay," Kiba grinned, "we can take rejection."

"O-okay… I'll go with N-Naruto-kun…" She clenched her eyes shut.

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped in pride.

"I'll go with Shino, then." Kiba said, trying not to sound hurt.

"I'm glad to hear I'm just the alternate choice." Shino said sarcastically as he walked towards an empty canoe.

"Neji," Tenten scuffed her feet nervously; "do you want to be in a canoe together?"

"Sure." He said nonchalantly.

"Ino," Chouji was stuffing his face, "want to go in my canoe? Shikamaru is going with Temari."

"Fine…" She growled.

"Gaara," Kankuro looked at his brother, "come on, there's room in my canoe."

"I suppose if I have to." Gaara followed him.

"Let's go!" Gai put one leg on the end of his canoe and pointed into the sea.

"How do you know that's where we are supposed to go?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, dear boy, I have a keen sense of direction, I've always been right!" He stated, thrusting his chin upward.

"Yeah, or maybe it's because of this map." Neji held up a map.

"Where did you find that?" Gai questioned nervously.

"You dropped it." He said handing the map back to Gai.

"No matter! It doesn't matter how I know where we're going, all that matters is that I do!" Gai began rowing his boat. "Come on, students, row your boats!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee helped Gai row their boat.

Shikamaru sat resting his back leaning on the bow of the boat and his arms over the edges. His eyes were half open and he was staring up at the clouds. The boat looked just like all the others did. They were wooden, polished, no seats, and nothing to separate the front rower from the back rower. The paddles were double-bladed, one blade on either side of the wooden stick which joined them.

"Shikamaru," Temari was rowing the boat with no help from him, "can you please help me with the rowing?"

"Hmm… Nah, I'm tired." Shikamaru stretched and lay in the boat.

"Come on, just pick up this paddle over here," she gestured towards a paddle resting next to her, "and start rowing."

Shikamaru grunted as he measured the distance between him and the paddle, "But it's far." He whined.

"Come on, be a man; you're _The_ Nara." She rolled her eyes.

"You're referring to me as if I am a boat." Shikamaru sat up, "And I'm not _The_ Nara, I'm Shikamaru Nara."

"Whatever, boat boy, pick up the paddle and row." She threw the paddle at him.

"Troublesome woman…" He picked up the paddle and rowed half-assed.

"Thank you." She said pleasantly smiling behind him.

"You're welcome." He replied drowsily.

Naruto and Hinata were in their boat, Hinata in the front and Naruto behind. Naruto was rowing as hard as he could to try and keep up with or beat Sasuke, but he seemed to be going the same pace as everyone else. Hinata was very nervous with Naruto behind her; she wanted to look back at him or start a conversation but was too shy.

"Hinata…?" Naruto's voice was a little shaky.

"Y-yes?" She was glad the silence was over.

"You don't think there are sharks in this water, do you?" He whispered.

"Um… There could be." Hinata rowed slowly.

"I really hope not…" Naruto grunted quietly, almost sounding afraid.

"RAWR!" A loud noise boomed behind them. Both Hinata and Naruto turned pale and screamed very high pitched screams. Naruto turned around and looked behind him.

"Sasuke?" He was confused and angry at the same time.

"Grow a pair." Sasuke said loudly.

"I've got some!" He replied angrily.

"Yeah, okay." Sasuke said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and rowed away.

"I-I believe you Naruto-kun…" Hinata said quietly.

"Thanks!" Naruto turned around and flashed a peace sign.

Kiba rowed angrily as he watched Hinata and Naruto scream and recover. His eyes narrowed. Shino was rowing behind him and noting every movement of his. Kiba rowed harshly, causing water to almost hit Shino in the face, but he expertly dodged with no problem.

"Kiba," Shino began a conversation, "you're acting unusual."

"It's just that… Naruto… we were supposed to be pals, but he turns around and stabs me in the back."

"Emotionally, correct?" Shino inquired.

"Yeah," Kiba looked back at him and grinned, "but my stabbing of his back will be real."

"Kiba," Shino sighed, "that's a little irrational."

"No, you're irrational." He pouted.

"I don't think this was intentional. His goal was not to stab you in the back, he simply wanted to row in a canoe with a friend who, for some reason, enjoys his company." Shino stared at Kiba through his sunglasses.

"But… Why doesn't she enjoy _my_ company?" Kiba glanced at Naruto and Hinata.

"You deduce that," Shino followed his gaze, "but it was never implied. I don't think Hinata meant to hurt your feelings in any way. She spends time with you all the time, you _are_ on her team. She hardly ever gets to spend time with him. Let it go." He looked away from the other canoe and continued rowing his own.

"I guess so…" Kiba looked at the dark water.

Time had gone by quickly and it was nearly evening by the time they had rowed far enough away that they could only see a dark outline of the island, engulfed in the deep grey storm clouds. They tried to avoid icebergs, for sure. Gaara was already sick and tired of Kankuro, talking about every subject that popped into his head. Not only Kankuro, but his puppet, too. Karasu, or the Crow, as Kankuro usually referred to him as, implying that he was less than a person, seemed to have a mind of his own; he constantly tried to insert himself into conversations. His annoyingly high pitched bird-like voice pierced through Gaara's sand shield and caused him to wince every time the puppet dared to speak.

"So Kankuro…" Crow began.

"Oh my god, Crow, go away." Kankuro said between his teeth.

"But Kanky-kun," Crow always called him that and was too stupid to notice Kankuro's dislike of it, "Crow just wants to spend some time with you."

"Well _Kankuro_ doesn't want to spend time with you." The puppet master spat.

"But you're my Kanky." Crow whined.

"Shut up or I'll push you off of this canoe!" Gaara burst.

There was an awkward silence, Crow was taken aback by Gaara's outburst and remained silent. He hated silence, though, and it was very unfortunate that his memory wasn't that great. For about seventeen seconds there was silence.

"So Kankuro…" Crow began again.

"Shut up and play your Game Boy." Kankuro replied, his eye twitching.

Chouji was sitting behind Ino, pretending to row their boat, but he was really stuffing his face with chips. Ino was watching Shikamaru and Temari carefully, her eyes narrowing every time they got close to or touched each other. They were arguing about something Ino didn't understand.

"Ino…" Chouji tried to get her attention.

"What?" She snapped.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"No. Fatty." Ino continued spying.

"I don't think Shikamaru likes it when you stare at him…" Chouji said, mostly to himself since he knew Ino was barely listening.

"Well that's just too bad." She growled.

"What if they see you?" He asked, not really caring.

"I don't really know, or care." She replied, wanting their conversation to end. She continued to stare at them. Suddenly, she saw Temari's head turn towards her. She looked confused. She tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder and said something to him that Ino couldn't hear. He turned his head in Ino's direction and glared at her. "They saw me!" She whispered loudly.

"I warned you…" Chouji laughed.

"Shut your face, fat boy!" She turned to him and clenched her fists.

"Hey Shikamaru," Chouji called to his friend, "Ino has been watching you for quite some ti-" He was cut off by Ino slapping him silly and yelling threats at him. Shikamaru looked back at Temari questioningly, then shrugged and continued fighting with her.

"Students!" Gai's voice washed over the sea, creating ripples. "If we row all night, we'll be there by morning."

"Excellent estimate, Gai-sensei!" Lee saluted him.

"Thank you, Lee!" Gai stood up on his boat and gave the sky a thumbs-up.

"You are most certainly welcome, Gai-sensei!" Lee stood up slowly and made a nice-guy pose, gleaming with youth sparkles.

"We are so hot!" Gai posed to himself.

"Yes, I concur!" Lee agreed, almost crying with pride.

"Row, row, row your boats," Gai sang, "gently down the-" Just then, they felt the boat receive a sharp jerk to one side, knocking them into the freezing water.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee gasped for air.

"Lee! Are you alright? Don't strain yourself to swim!" Gai grabbed Lee and helped him back onto their boat, carefully.

"Gai-sensei…" his eyes were half closed and weren't focusing on anything. "W-what happened?"

"Lee… I don't know." Gai began to cry.

"I-I feel kind of tired Gai-sensei…" He strained a cough.

"Don't die on me, Lee. Lee. Lee!" Gai thrust his hands into the air and clawed at the dark sky, crying into space. He inhaled deeply and screamed, "LEE!"

"Quit being so melodramatic. You were simply knocked into the water." Neji rolled his eyes and sighed.

"How Neji, how!? Tell me that?!" Gai yelled.

"I kicked your boat." He said as he closed his eyes and rowed past Lee and Gai's boat.

"But… What about Lee? He's dead!" He cried.

"He's not dead, he's just craving attention." He called back.

"Gai-sensei?" Lee opened his eyes and looked at his sensei.

"You're okay!" Gai hugged him.

"Idiots…" Neji muttered as he could faintly hear their cries. There were no clouds in the sky, currently. He looked at the dark water; it was almost pitch black but was reflecting the stars. Tenten sat behind him, rowing softly.

"It's nice out, huh?" Tenten whispered close to his ear.

"Sure." He replied, rowing steadily.

"Pretty _romantic_…" She whispered, even closer to his ear.

"I suppose." He glanced at Temari and Shikamaru, yelling at each other. His gaze shifted to Naruto, winking at Hinata and laughing with her about something. Sakura was tugging on Sasuke's sleeve and crying about how she loves him. Ino was trying to strangle Chouji, but couldn't get her hands over his scarf or completely around his throat. He smirked. He was so focused on watching all of his acquaintances mingle he didn't notice Tenten move closer to him. He heard her rowing slow, though. He felt hot breath on the back of his neck that made a tingle go down his spine. "…Tenten?"

"Yeah?" She sounded calm and relaxed.

"What are you doing?" He asked without turning his head.

"I'm just," Neji felt her knees slowly move to either side of him, "getting comfortable..." She said slowly and softly.

"Um…" Neji's mind momentarily drew a blank. Finally he spoke up, "I think we should row a little faster." He said shifting forward, slightly further away from her; his face lightly tinted pink.

"Oh… Okay," She said as she rowed faster and remained where she was, "I guess it's comfortable here, too."

Finally, after hours rowing, listening to youth speeches, and arguing countless times land was drawing near. Gai, Lee, Naruto, and a few others spent most of the time singing songs, and everyone else was thankful they had finally reached land and could escape from them. It was still relatively dark out, though all the stars had disappeared. The sun was rising beautifully behind them, which means they must have been somewhere east of where they had begun.

"Land!" Kiba pointed to a green outline of a forest.

"Yes. Students, we will probably be on land in an hour." Gai predicted.

Within five minutes, they landed. Gai tried not to mention his miscalculation. He returned the boats back to where they were supposed to be and they started walking back to Konoha. Gaara and his siblings decided they were going to stay in the village for a day or two; they had done enough traveling already. Even though all of their luggage was lost, they were still cheerful.

But even without the luggage, the trip took all day. Occasionally they would stop and rest or find some food. The trip was filled with song and Sasuke spraying Sakura with holy water whenever she would ask him to "take her". Kiba and Naruto were inseparable, since Kiba had forgiven him. Finally, near dusk they arrived. Everyone was relieved that they had not run into any trouble along the way.

"Finally we're back in Konoha!" Kiba howled, standing in front of the gates and throwing his arms into the air.

"Kiba, please stop yelling," Shino said as he walked past him and through the gates, "you're disturbing the peace."

"Hey Keebs," Naruto had come up with that nickname along the way, "want to go get some Ramen?"

"Yahoo!" Kiba hollered at the top of his lungs as he and Naruto ran towards the Ichiraku Ramen Bar

"Well," Ino sighed, "maybe we should follow the _Fox and the_ _Hound_'s example and leave, too." Everyone nodded and split up.


	7. Gaara and Nara

**Chapter 7: Gaara and Nara**

Naruto and Kiba sat at the Ramen bar, enjoying a nice bowl of Konoha's finest. They were conversing about anything they enjoyed. But soon the conversation switched to Hinata.

"Hinata's a babe, am I right?" Kiba laughed.

"Wha…" Naruto began choking on his ramen. He pounded on his chest with a clenched fist and clenched his eyes closed.

"You should," cough, "get some Halls." A scratchy voice said from behind Naruto, it sounded a lot like a Chunin exams examiner Hayate.

"Hey aren't you…" Naruto spun around on his stool and looked behind him, but no one was there. "Dead?" Naruto shrugged it off and glared at Kiba. "What did you say?"

"I said that Hinata is a babe." Kiba grinned.

"I didn't know you liked Hinata." Naruto smiled.

"Yeah, but she doesn't like me." Kiba tried to hide his shame.

"You don't know that." Naruto patted him on the back.

"But she likes you." He pouted.

"Really? YEAH! I mean… who knows, she could develop a liking for you; you're not a bad guy." Naruto gave him a peace sign.

"Thanks." Kiba laughed.

"Now lets finish this Ramen before it gets cold!" he said stuffing his face with noodles.

Gaara and Kankuro went back to the hotel they were previously staying at. They were in the largest room in the entire hotel. There were three separate beds in the bedroom. Gaara was sitting on his bed flipping through TV channels.

"There's nothing on." He sighed.

"_Hey! You're chubby too!" _Kirsty Alley came on the TV and pointed at the screen.

"No I'm not." Gaara said as he changed the channel.

"_Dharma, get your feet off the coffee table._" A guy said shaking his finger.

"_I'd rather keep them right here, Greg._" The girl replied smiling.

"_You free spirit!_" The guy laughed as he shook his head, amused.

"Next channel." Kankuro said lying on his own bed.

"_Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came_." A theme song played as images of scenes in an old bar flashed on the screen.

"Not amusing." He changed the channel again.

"_Breaking news! A fire has broken out at a pizza shop on the east side of Konoha; the fire fighters are on the job, but they still aren't sure that they can stop the fire in time to save the building_._ The cause is unknown, but it seems to be an act of arson, possibly an attempted murder of the resident._" A news reporter said seriously.

Gaara pressed a button on the remote.

"_I'll be back._" A rather large man said in a voice so deep and with such a horrendous accent you could hardly understand him.

"There is nothing I want to watch on." Gaara pouted, turning off the TV and putting the remote on his night table, "where's Temari?"

"She went over to that Nara guy's house." Kankuro explained.

"You mean the lazy guy?" Gaara questioned.

"Yep." He yawned.

"Why would she do that?" He asked.

"Maybe she likes him…" Kankuro laughed.

"Did she say when she'll be back?" He asked.

"No, but she'll probably come back in a few hours or something." Kankuro said picking up the remote off of Gaara's night table and turning the TV back on.

Temari and Shikamaru walked back to his house. They argued the entire way, though. When they finally arrived they decided to just agree to disagree about their current topic. They entered the house and found it completely quiet.

"That's odd… My dad is usually home by now." Shikamaru said as he turned on the light.

"Nara!" His father said as he burst through the door behind them, almost slamming into Temari on the way. He had a woman under each arm.

"Dad, my name is Shikamaru." He rolled his eyes.

"Right, sorry son," He grinned, "how was your vacation."

"The cruise ship we were on crashed into an iceberg, we had to swim to shore, we walked across the island and back, came home by rowing canoes all night, and walked back to Konoha from the coast. It was troublesome." He summarized.

"Sounds great. Hey," he turned to Temari, "you must be my nine o' clock."

"Actually, this is my friend Temari." Shikamaru introduced her.

"Oh, so she's yours? You're finally man enough to lose your virginity?" His father asked, laughing.

"Um, no, she's just my friend." He sighed.

"Alright," his father winked at him, "whatever you say. If you need me, my lady friends and I will be in the bedroom." The women giggled.

"Yeah." Shikamaru sighed.

"Shikamaru," a feminine voice from behind him said, "how was your trip?"

"It's too troublesome to explain, mom." Shikamaru said as he turned around.

"That's nice. And who might you be? My husbands nine o' clock?" She asked Temari.

"No, I'm here with Shikamaru." She explained.

"Oh, so he's finally man enough to-" His mom was cut off by Temari.

"No, we're just friends." She said quickly.

"I see." She winked at Temari then turned her attention to Shikamaru's father. "Dear, I'm doing a load of whites, do you have any?"

"Nah, although after I'm done with these ladies the sheets could use a good washing." He laughed, so did the women.

"Alright, I'll hold off for a little while, then." She said nodding.

"Don't you care about what he might be… _doing_ with those women?" Temari asked.

"One less thing I have to do around here." She said shrugging, "I'll see you later, Shikamaru." She said leaving Temari with her mouth agape.

"Come on, my room's this way." Shikamaru said walking past Temari.

"Alright." She said, closing her mouth.

She followed him though a short hallway, where they came to a flight of stairs. The house was mostly made of wood, and was decorated with pictures and simple furnishings. They reached the top of the stairs and walked down a strait, narrow hallway to a door that was blank and brown. Obviously Shikamaru's room. Temari smiled lightly as Shikamaru opened the door to his room, turned on the light, and gestured for her to come inside.

"Nice place you got here." Temari said looking around.

His room was rather blank, the walls had no pictures hung and the bed was unmade. He had a brown dresser with a sleeve of a shirt hanging out and a mirror resting on top. His bed was a simple one person cot with two pillows and a grey blanket. In the roof of his room was a sky light, presumably for him to watch the clouds, or stars at night. There was no wall paper on his walls, either; they were simply a shade of off white paint. Overall, the room was utterly Shikamaru.

"Thanks, I guess." He replied lying on his bed and staring up at the skylight; it was dark out, so the only things to look at were the stars. He rested his hands behind his head and let his eyes rest half open. One of his hands slipped out from behind his head and patted the space next to him. Temari nodded and laid down to him.

"So, is this what you do all the time?" She asked, turning her head towards him.

"Most of the time." He answered, glancing at her, then back at the stars.

"It's nice. Just lying down and watching the sky. I sometimes do it back in Suna. I just stare out my window or go up to the roof by myself. My brothers could never like this sort of thing, though." She sighed.

"Their loss." He shrugged.

"I guess…" She yawned, relaxing.

"Are you tired?" He asked, turning his head towards her.

"A little bit." She said closing her eyes.

"Did you tell your brothers when you would be back?" He asked as he rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.

"Mmm…" She grunted.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. "Are you awake?" He asked softly. Her breath became even. She was asleep. He frowned and sighed. "Troublesome woman…" He muttered, watching the stars twinkle.

He lay in his bed, watching the stars, for nearly three hours. Every now and again he would look over at the girl sleeping next to him. He was confused. He didn't know whether to wake her up or let her sleep. He sighed and closed his eyes. Five minutes passed and he heard the wind blowing in his room. He frowned and sat up rubbing his eyes. He looked over at his window and was slightly startled.

"Nara." Gaara said, sitting in his windowsill.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked.

"Looking for my sister." He said narrowing his eyes.

"You've come to the right place." He said shrugging.

"I thought so." Gaara said sliding off the windowsill and stepping towards the bed where his sister lay.

"Temari," Shikamaru touched her arm and shook her gently, "your brother's here."

"Hmm…" She stirred then opened her eyes drowsily, "Who?"

"Gaara." He said softly.

"Gaara?" She turned her head and looked at her brother tiredly.

"Why are you still here?" Gaara asked.

"I must have fallen asleep." Temari replied, yawning.

"You let her fall asleep?" Gaara said through his teeth, looking up at Shikamaru.

"I guess." He said shrugging.

"Sorry," Temari sat up, "I was really tired."

"Yeah." Shikamaru looked over at his clock. It read 12:03.

"You're coming back to the hotel. Now." Gaara commanded.

"Who's going to make me?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Why must you be so difficult...?" He sighed.

Just then, the door burst open and in the doorway stood Sakura and Ino. All that could be seen were their silhouette figures. They stepped in the room and closed the door behind them, flicking the light on and stinging Shikamaru and Temari's eyes. They posed in front of the bed and smiled into space dramatically.

"We thought you'd be here, Temari." Ino said looking down at her.

"Why?" Shikamaru yawned and dragged out the word.

"Because we looked almost everywhere else." Sakura admitted.

"Why did you want to find me anyway?" Temari swung her legs over the side of the bed and stretched her arms.

"Because we're thinking of having a very late night girls only slumber party on the spur of the moment." Ino explained, "We were going to have it with just Me, Sakura, and Hinata; but Sakura thought it'd be nice to invite you since you're going to be leaving soon."

"Uh, I can understand you and Sakura wanting to have a slumber party, but why with Hinata?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"She has a big house; it'll be more fun there." Ino said as Sakura nodded in agreement.

"I don't know if I should go; it's pretty late." She scratched her chin.

"Come on, it'll be fun; we promise!" Sakura whined.

"Well, I am already awake..." She continued to think.

"Temari," Gaara inserted himself between Temari and the two other girls, "come back to the hotel; it's boring being alone with Kankuro."

"I think a slumber party sounds kind of nice." She said nodding her head and standing up.

"What about me?" Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Take Shikamaru back to the hotel and talk about guy stuff or something." She said stepping past him and towards the door.

"But-" Gaara was interrupted by Temari.

"Goodbye!" She said as the girls left the room and closed the door behind them.

"Troublesome women..." Shikamaru muttered.

"Come on," Gaara turned to Shikamaru, "let's go."

"What? Where?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"To the hotel; there's no way I'm going back there to spend time with Kankuro alone again." He climbed onto the windowsill.

"Fine..." Shikamaru stood up and slowly walked towards the window. "But why are we going out the window?"

"Because I'd rather not walk through your house with those girls." He said jumping out the window and landing on the bit of roof next to it.

"Tell me about it..." Shikamaru muttered, following him out the window.

The hotel was only about seven buildings away, so Shikamaru and Gaara reached it in nearly no time at all. Kankuro was waiting on his bed, flipping through channels when they arrived.

"Uh, why are you here Shikamaru?" Kankuro asked as Gaara came through the window and Shikamaru began to enter.

"Because Gaara brought me here..." He said as he climbed through the window.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I was bored of you." Gaara said lying on his bed.

"Oh." Kankuro mumbled, still flipping through channels. He sighed and switched off the TV. "Still, there's nothing good on TV."

"What do you want to do, then?" Gaara asked.

"Sleep..." Shikamaru yawned.

"Did you forget about my insomnia?" Gaara growled.

"So, because you can't sleep, I can't sleep?" He asked.

"Yes. And since you and my sister appear to be getting so... close, I think perhaps I should learn a little bit about you..." He said turning towards him.

"What are you talking about Gaara?" Kankuro asked.

"Temari and him are becoming rather good friends, so I just thought you and I should ask him a few questions about himself, you know, get to know him a little." He shrugged.

"Good friends? Just how _good_ of friends are you?" Kankuro grinned.

"Let's just drop the subject..." Shikamaru groaned.

"Alright. So, is there anything about you we should know?" Kankuro stood up, walked over to Gaara's bed, and sat on the edge looking at him.

"Uh... I don't think so." he thought.

"Come over here and tell us all there is to you." Gaara said tapping his hand on the other side of his bed.

"...Okay." He slowly walked over to Gaara's bed and sat on the side. Gaara, Kankuro, and Shikamaru now sat in sort of a triangle on the bed. Shikamaru slouched and waited for someone to ask him something.

"Tell us your life story." Gaara commanded.

"My entire life story?" He questioned.

"Yes. Now." He narrowed his eyes.

"But it's long..." Shikamaru whined.

"Tell us your goddamn life story right now!" Gaara nearly yelled.

"Hey," Kankuro raised his hands defensively, "easy there, angry bear."

"What did you just say?" Gaara's head slowly turned towards his brother.

"Uh, nothing, buddy." Kankuro said quietly.

Gaara ignored what Kankuro called him and turned back to Shikamaru, "Just tell us."

"Fine..." Shikamaru sighed. "I was born here in Konoha..."

Neji and Hinata walked back to the Hyuga compound in silence. Neji went towards the Branch house, and Hinata went to the Main house. The Main house was much larger than the Branch house, and they even had a dungeon. But, while the Main house had a dungeon, the Branch house had a ping pong table. It wasn't a very good idea to get a dungeon in the first place, because they never use it.

Hinata lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was tired, but she was having a hard time getting to sleep. Neji's room was on the side of the Branch house closest to the Main, and their walls were very thin. She could hear the news on TV, and he only watched that when he can't sleep. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Hinata!" A whispering voice said from her door.

"Huh?" She sat up and looked at her door.

"It's us, Ino, Sakura, and Temari." Ino's voice said.

"The door's open." She whispered.

"Okay." Sakura's voice said as they opened the door and came inside.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked urgently.

"Slumber party." Ino said simply.

"Why isn't Tenten here?" She asked.

"We don't know her that well, and, um, we don't really know where she lives." Sakura admitted nervously.

"Why didn't you ask Lee?" Hinata inquired.

"We did, a few hours ago, but he didn't know where she lived either." Ino informed her.

"Oh. So, we're having a slumber party? Where?" Hinata asked.

"Right here." Ino grinned.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, the wall between me and Neji's rooms are thin; we might accidentally wake him..." Hinata whispered.

"I'm already awake, Hinata." A voice came through the wall.

"Oh, sorry Neji…" Hinata said nervously.

"You need not be, I was already awake. Just remember to keep it down. I'm watching the news." Neji replied.

"Alright." Hinata agreed.

"He watches the news?" Ino asked.

"When there's nothing else on TV and he can't get to sleep, yes." Hinata explained.

"Alright, what do you guys want to do?" Temari asked.

"Truth or dare!" Ino and Sakura yelled enthusiastically. Temari and Hinata exchanged annoyed glances.

"Can't we do anything else?" Temari whined.

"Stop complaining." Ino rolled her eyes. Her and Sakura rushed over to Hinata's bed and sat on the end. Ino turned and looked at Temari, "Come on, sit down."

"But it's far." She sighed.

Everyone froze. Sakura and Hinata's eyes slowly inched towards her and stared. Temari even froze. She hadn't even meant to say that, it just came out. Everyone was silent, the only thing that could be heard were the quiet news reports from the wall.

"What did you just say?" Ino narrowed her eyes.

"Shikamaru must be rubbing off on me." Temari shrugged.

"I can't stand it when people say that…" Ino groaned.

"Sorry, it just slipped out." She said walking over to the bed and sitting on it tiredly.

"Okay," Ino glanced around the room, "who wants to go first?" She grinned.


	8. Bonding

**Chapter 8: Bonding**

Neji sat on his bed in his room, watching the news on channel five. He hadn't been watching for very long and so far there were no news stories that sparked his interest. But he would much rather watch an unimportant news broadcast than listen to a slumber party, any day. He sighed and leaned over the side of his bed. He reached under his mattress and pulled out a notebook. Neji had been writing a novel for a while now, about 3 months. Every now and again he would add something new, but he had yet to tell anyone about it. He plucked a pencil from the binds of the book and began to write. Twenty minutes went by and he gazed up from his book and looked at the TV.

"_Here is a special news update: the burning building we've been informing you about for the last few hours has finally been extinguished. It has been proven that the fire was no accident, and was possibly a set-up. The building that burned was a local pizza shop. As well as a pizza shop, it was also a small living space for the resident; who currently has not been located._" The news reported stated. The camera showed the burnt ashes and foundry of the building.

"Hey, wait a minute…" Neji leaned forward and looked carefully at the burned building, "that's Tenten's house…" He said softly. He stared at the notebook in his hands for a moment. He was the only one who knew that Tenten and her family owned a pizza shop; she never told anyone except him. He sensed a presence activated his Byakugan. A smile crossed his face and he almost laughed. He turned around onto his knees and opened the window that was directly behind his bed. "What are you doing here?" He asked the girl who was resting her crossed arms on his windowsill.

"Like there's anywhere else I can go." She sighed.

"Come in." He commanded as he moved to allow her entry to his room.

"Thanks." She smiled, climbing in, kicking off her shoes, and lying on his bed.

"Are you okay, Tenten?" He asked, closing the window and sitting next to her.

"Hmm… I suppose you saw the news story?" She asked.

"Yes." He nodded.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing to the notebook he was still holding in his left hand.

"Oh, it's nothing." He replied, flipping the pages to the blank cover to hide the words.

"Okay…" She yawned.

"What happened at your house?" He asked.

"I don't really know; it's probably just another attempted murder." She giggled.

"Attempted murder?" He lowered his eyebrows.

"It wouldn't be the first time." She shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"For about five months now, I'm been almost killed countless times. Some of those times it was you who saved me, remember?" She looked up at his ceiling.

"Are you talking about those times when we were training?" He questioned.

"Yeah." She laughed softly.

"Why haven't you told me?" He followed her gaze to the ceiling.

"I thought it'd just go away, but I was wrong." She turned on her side and looked at him, "I've never really told anyone this… About five months ago, like I said, something terrible happened." He turned his head to her and listened. "I came home from training and my front door was busted open. I was a little surprised that the sign on my family's pizza shop said 'closed', but I didn't think much of it. I walked up the stairs to my house, but I couldn't see anyone. I went into the living room and I saw my Mom, Dad, and brother tied to chairs. Standing around them were a few members of the ANBU. I knew I had to help them, so I acted as a distraction while they escaped. One of the ANBU came at me with a katana, but my brother jumped in the way and got his head sliced off. I fell down backwards and his head landed in my lap. My parents screamed, but the ANBU just stabbed them a few times and shut them up. I guess they forgot about me momentarily or something because they rushed out of there like the place was on fire or something. I sat there looking into my brother's eyes for a few seconds before gaining the courage to stand up. After cleaning my family's blood off of the furniture, and scraping their parts off of the walls I buried the remaining parts of their bodies out in the forest. I did some research, and it turns out that my parents were robbers and murderers in disguise. The ANBU didn't think that they deserved to have children, so they came after all of us. I suppose they found out I'm still alive, though, because they're still trying to kill me." Tenten said laughing softly.

"I had no idea…" Neji said sympathetically.

"_News update: it's official; the resident of the burning house had been declared deceased_." The news reporter said on the TV. Neji picked up the remote and turned the TV off.

"I hope the ANBU watches TV, maybe they'll think I'm dead and leave me alone…" She sighed.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Neji asked in a serious tone.

"That's kind of why I came here… I have no one. No one except you." She smiled.

"Alright, I'm sure there's an extra room somewhere." Neji nodded.

"But I'm scared, Neji, can't I sleep here with you?" She looked up at him with shinny, pleading eyes. Neji sighed.

"Yeah, sure." He slipped his book into his mattress.

"Thank you!" She grinned.

"Neji?" A voice came through the wall.

"Uh, yes?" He replied.

"Is someone in there?" Hinata's voice said.

"… No why?" He questioned.

"We just heard voices and…" She trailed off.

"No, everything's okay. Get back to your slumber party." He suggested.

"Okay…" She agreed.

"Why didn't you tell her I was here?" Tenten whispered.

"I didn't want everyone to come running in here and keeping me up all night." He sighed.

"I guess." She yawned, "Come on, let's go to sleep."

Neji nodded and slid underneath the covers. Tenten slipped under the covers and stared at him with a sad smile. He grunted and closed his eyes. Within minutes, they were asleep.

Temari walked back to the hotel tiredly. Ino, Sakura, Hinata and her had been up for three hours talking about things Temari really couldn't care less about. She was looking forward to getting back to the room and catching at least two or three hours of sleep. She smiled as she rode the elevator to her floor and stepped out. The hallway had lights on either side, but she could still see a light coming from underneath her door. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Turning the doorknob slowly, she entered the room. Just as she'd expected, there were her brothers sitting on Gaara's bed. But they weren't alone. On the other side of the bed sat one of her closest friends.

"Shikamaru?" Temari questioned.

"Hey." He waved, drowsily smiling. She glanced at Kankuro who was laughing so hard he almost fell off of the bed.

"What are you laughing about?" She asked.

"T-this, this guy-y!" He said between laughs, pointing at Shikamaru.

"He's funny, Temari." Gaara said giggling. _Giggling_? Gaara hardly even ever smiled. Now he was _giggling_?

"What?" Temari was taken aback.

"He- he's telling us some stories of-of-of h-his life!" Kankuro was trying to pull himself together.

"Well that's nice and all," Temari yawned, "but would you mind keeping down the volume of your bonding so I can get some sleep?" She groaned and slipped into her bed.

"Okay. We-we'll try." Kankuro took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, but just exploded in a fit of laughs immediately.

Temari managed to get to sleep about half an hour of stories and laughing later. She had to admit, despite Shikamaru's looks and personality, he was a very funny guy. She just wished that she had enough energy to stay up and listen to him. Kankuro, Gaara, and Shikamaru really seemed to be becoming friends; which might be a good thing if they ever go on another vacation like that again, and everyone knew they would.

**The End**


	9. Footnote: References

Here are the names of the songs and references that were used in this story:

Chapter 1: The Invitation 

_Billy Jean_ by **Michael Jackson**: Naruto sang when he first woke up.

_Livin' La Vida Loca_ by **Ricky Martin**: Ino sang to on the radio.

_Déjà vu_ by **Beyonce featuring Jay-Z**: Ino sang second on the radio.

_Uno_ A card game for 2-4 players: Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji played.

Chapter 2: Hyuga Party

_Trouble_ a board game for 2-4 players: Hanabi was holding when Hinata said she hated her.

_Ray Grover_ a radio host from **107.3 Kool.fm** in Victoria, BC (Canada): The radio host.

_It's All Coming Back to Me Now _by **Meatloaf featuring Marion Raven**: The radio contest's song.

_Sake_ an alcoholic beverage: What Neji and Tenten were drinking at the party.

_Kerplunk _a board game for 2-4 players: Neji and Tenten played during the black out.

Chapter 3: The Kerplunk Incident

_1000 Miles _by **Great Big Sea**: Naruto sung when he woke up on the second day.

_Hips Don't Lie _by **Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean**: Shikamaru's father used to wake his son up.

Chapter 4: Stranded

_Pepsi (Pepsi-cola)_ a beverage invented in the early 1890's: Kiba and Naruto ordered it in the cruise's dinning room.

_Albert Einstein_ A famous intelligent man: Neji referred to when Lee was standing on the table.

_My Heart Will Go On _by** Celine Dion**: Playing in the background while the cruise ship was sinking.

_Titanic_ an Olympic class passenger liner that collided with an iceberg and sank in1912. Made into a movie that featured the song _My Heart Will Go On _by** Celine Dion**: Gaara referred to the irony that what was happening to them was almost identical to what happened in the movie.

Chapter 5: Akatsuki

_Doritos Sweet Chili Heat _A flavor of Chips that was advertised on television with commercials featuring two guys and a bear where one guy would fall down in fear and the other would eat a chip and choose either Bold, Hot, or Sweet and would somehow use it to fight off/ subdue the bear: Naruto used this method to attempt to save his friends from Larry the bear.

_Two Lights_ by** Five For Fighting**: Gaara sung when he was sitting on the sand dome on the Island.

Chapter 6: Gai Sensei the Savior

_Take me _a phrase invented in this story meaning "Have sex with me" or "Take my virginity": Sakura said it to Sasuke.

_Welcome to the Black Parade _by **My Chemical Romance**: Gai and Lee sung while running to the fleet of canoes.

_Row Your Boat_ an old nursery rhyme: Gai sung as they were paddling the canoes.

Chapter 7: Gaara and Nara

_Halls _cough medicine in solid form: Hayate's ghost told Naruto to get some when he was coughing on Ramen.

A commercial for the weight loss program _Jenny Craig_ featuring Kirsty Ally: Gaara was flipping through channels.

A commercial for the Television series _Dharma and Greg_: Gaara was flipping through channels.

A commercial for the Television series _Cheers_ featuring lyrics from the theme song: When Gaara was flipping through channels.

A commercial for the movie _The Terminator_: Gaara was flipping through channels.

_Slumber Party_ a sleepover or night time party mostly girls have: Sakura and Ino decided to have one.

Chapter 8: Bonding

_Tenten's Back-story _completely false, fabricated for this story.


End file.
